Funny, cuz when you wrote "I love the search," I thought you meant about getting high, because the search, and the unexpected is also often one of the components of addiction—the thing that delivers an extra surprise kick—but weed is so easy to get that I imagine there wasn't much of a search involved, and so, no search, and no surprise …
Funny, cuz when you wrote "I love the search," I thought you meant about getting high, because the search, and the unexpected is also often one of the components of addiction—the thing that delivers an extra surprise kick—but weed is so easy to get that I imagine there wasn't much of a search involved, and so, no search, and no surprise there.
Although these days the line goes that addiction is the opposite of connection, or caused by a chronic lack of connection, if we follow that back looking for the source, the lack of connection is how our culture works, and so 'the reason' why so many of us have addictive tendencies or addictive stages of life or, like me, much-of-lives devoted to chasing booze, cigarettes, porn, speed, kinky sex, "investing," mostly very lonely travel trips, and shopping, etc. (I'm sure I forget a few in the list)—oh yeah, social media, of course, is... our culture itself. A giant, very unsatisfying machine that we, ourselves, in a very fucked-up way, designed, unconsciously, and that renders us slavering for the latest TCHV edible, a double hit of Molly delivered with a tongue up the ass, a weekend psychedelic ceremony led by some shaman named Scott from Santa Monica, or even a trip to Vegas—anything to distract for a moment.
I used to think I wasn't addicted to anything, and also that one can't get addicted to weed because it's not addictive, but my views about addiction have shifted to a more psychological perspective, where it's kinda possible to get addicted to just about anything. Not saying it's not a good idea to stop using the thing, as you and I both have, but, and, one perspective among many others that helped me is Adi Jaffe's book The Abstinence Myth, which really crystallized the fact that the substance isn't the egg; of course, it's our own selves (and the culture around us). His thinking draws a lot on Stanton Peele's Love and Addiction, which is also pretty nifty.
because I'm shameless like you, I'll share that I interviewed Adi Jaffe here:
and you almost stole my title! My book is called An Ordinary Disaster!
Good on ya Alex. I remember reading this when you first posted it, and it was worth reading again. Glad you cleaned up too , at least with the dab, I tried that shit once and jesus man, I was high for a week!
Adi Jaffe is fascinating! i completely agree with his approach to recovery, that you can't start it until you're ready to start. i remember listening to a podcast episode where he says he sees clients who haven't 'quit' whatever it is they're trying to 'quit' yet, because you can't dole out ultimatums off the bat, you have to meet them where they are.
Funny, cuz when you wrote "I love the search," I thought you meant about getting high, because the search, and the unexpected is also often one of the components of addiction—the thing that delivers an extra surprise kick—but weed is so easy to get that I imagine there wasn't much of a search involved, and so, no search, and no surprise there.
Although these days the line goes that addiction is the opposite of connection, or caused by a chronic lack of connection, if we follow that back looking for the source, the lack of connection is how our culture works, and so 'the reason' why so many of us have addictive tendencies or addictive stages of life or, like me, much-of-lives devoted to chasing booze, cigarettes, porn, speed, kinky sex, "investing," mostly very lonely travel trips, and shopping, etc. (I'm sure I forget a few in the list)—oh yeah, social media, of course, is... our culture itself. A giant, very unsatisfying machine that we, ourselves, in a very fucked-up way, designed, unconsciously, and that renders us slavering for the latest TCHV edible, a double hit of Molly delivered with a tongue up the ass, a weekend psychedelic ceremony led by some shaman named Scott from Santa Monica, or even a trip to Vegas—anything to distract for a moment.
I used to think I wasn't addicted to anything, and also that one can't get addicted to weed because it's not addictive, but my views about addiction have shifted to a more psychological perspective, where it's kinda possible to get addicted to just about anything. Not saying it's not a good idea to stop using the thing, as you and I both have, but, and, one perspective among many others that helped me is Adi Jaffe's book The Abstinence Myth, which really crystallized the fact that the substance isn't the egg; of course, it's our own selves (and the culture around us). His thinking draws a lot on Stanton Peele's Love and Addiction, which is also pretty nifty.
because I'm shameless like you, I'll share that I interviewed Adi Jaffe here:
https://bowendwelle.substack.com/p/e18-unhooked-and-connected-with-dr
...and I've written a lot about my own addictions, although with less Starbucks, e.g.
A Five Minute Love Affair with Natural Wine
https://open.substack.com/pub/bowendwelle/p/a-five-minute-love-affair-with-natural
and -- Sex is Better Sober!
https://open.substack.com/pub/bowendwelle/p/sex-is-better-sober
and you almost stole my title! My book is called An Ordinary Disaster!
Good on ya Alex. I remember reading this when you first posted it, and it was worth reading again. Glad you cleaned up too , at least with the dab, I tried that shit once and jesus man, I was high for a week!
Adi Jaffe is fascinating! i completely agree with his approach to recovery, that you can't start it until you're ready to start. i remember listening to a podcast episode where he says he sees clients who haven't 'quit' whatever it is they're trying to 'quit' yet, because you can't dole out ultimatums off the bat, you have to meet them where they are.
Glad you know the name! His little book is great, and he led me to Stanton Peele, who AFAICT is really the originator of the modern lens on addiction.