Hello everyone, we are back with another episode. I had the pleasure of chatting with someone in his 20s, who realized weed is no longer helping him. After making a decision to quit, he started running daily and sharing daily struggles with his close friends and family. This is more of a classic style of the episode, where I get to interview the guest from the beginning of his use all the way to the quitting and the new life, and identity.
Let me know what you think about the episode, also don’t forget to click like/subscribe and follow.
Thank you to our anonymous guest.
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Chapters:
00:00 Podcast intro
03:41 Where did this whole thing with weed start
06:53 When is the first time you noticed that’s now what you want to do?
09:46 How do marijuana withdrawals make you feel?
11:21 Did you have any relapses on your journey?
12:26 What was one thing that changed everything for you?
13:32 Telling my roommate I want to quit marijuana
16:14 How did you start with the exercise?
19:23 The endocannabinoid system
21:16 What would you say to someone who says they cannot exercise?
24:40 How is your anxiety now, after two weeks?
27:09 A research on the endocannabinoid system
32:56 How did the r/leaves community help you?
40:08 Guest’s last words
43:19 Podcast outro
Over and out
– Anze
Transcription below
PODCAST INTRO: mylastjoint.com, Hello internet. And when I say internet, I mean anyone that is listening out there. Welcome to the official podcast mylastjoint.com. Now today, I've got a really interesting episode for you. And it's about a guy who actually decided that running will keep him sober. Now I've heard well, I've heard we had this sort of framework established before, if you go a bit back, you'll see there's an episode with someone who was using peloton to sort of get off weight. And then there was another woman as well, who just went out and started riding a bike whenever she felt like smoking and it's sort of a recurring theme. But it's a recurring theme, because it actually works. If you someone struggling to quit marijuana, I can guarantee you even if it's just a morning walk, or you know, 10 push-ups in the morning, make it consistent and incorporate it every day. And I can guarantee you, it'll help you massively, it will help you more than you think. And I mean, you know, he mentioned is it as well that a lot of the experts, they pretty much they all agree that exercise is one of those things that I do always recommend to anyone struggling with drugs. So I absolutely agree with that. And, you know, it's something that I started doing as well in the beginning. I mean, what I would do is, when I was heavy, heavy smoking, I mean, you know, starting at eight o'clock in the morning, and by nine o'clock I would be you know, sky high, looking at the stars or whatever. And when I decided I want to quit, what I started doing is I had this morning walk. So I would say listen, it doesn't matter if you smoke in the afternoon, as long as you do the morning walks, and I'll just go for like, three, four miles non to the beach and come back. And, you know, this is consistency, like doing it, I did from the beginning. You know, I didn't even do it every day, I think it was like once per week and then twice and like, you know, slowly building it. But this consistency then sort of gave me the courage and the power to do other things. And that's what like, call me the whole momentum. But anyways, let's keep this episode on our interview with for today. And to be honest, I'm already sort of over the time. I tried to keep it on 30 minutes now I think we're about 45. So yeah, it's really interesting episode. I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it is a bit of everything, not just his story about how he is exercising, we covered a lot of different aspects. And he mentions a really interesting research as well from The University in Germany, which I've just learned, you know, on this recording, but yeah, I'll pass you over to our interview, you know, thank you as always for listening podcast, and we'll see you at the end. Bye for now. Q: Record here. So we kind of okay, that’s cool. Alright, well, first of all, I wanted to sort of go a little bit back. So we're did this whole thing with weed started? I: So I was about 17 years old, the first time I ever had an experience with weed. I used to be in high school band. And I was actually at a band concert, it was outdoors and we were supposed to be performing. Now, I was one of the first chair trumpets, which basically just means I had a solo part coming up in a performance. What happened was, I had a friend who wanted to go for a ride with me. So I got in his car. It was not time for performance yet. So we were just driving around. I thought everything was okay. You know, I never expected to be you know, exposed to weed for the first time. And so we're driving, we're driving, he pulls out a pipe. And I'm like, what is that? And he's like, Oh, it's weed. You know, it's something that I do that I smoke often and I never knew that about him. And he's like, do you want to try and I was scared. You know, I didn't know what to think about everything. But he taught me and I got high with him. I was so high in fact, that I missed my performance time back at the concert, and so everybody was so mad at me for that. Q: That's yeah, that's a hell of a first time. I: It really was. Q: Okay. And what happened sort of after that, so you introduced to sort of, I mean, the obviously, you didn't know that your friend is smoking, but then, you know, you smoke together and you go really high. What happened after that? I: I didn't smoke a lot, it was just kind of an experience that I had, and I kind of wrote it off. I didn't really smoke for the rest of the time I was in high school, perhaps maybe once or twice. It wasn't until I graduated that I really began to smoke more. I noticed that my friend circle, the people that I grew up with started smoking. And so by default, I kind of put myself into that mindset and that situation. Q: So what would be sort of that mindset and that situation? Can you describe a little bit more? I: Well, I feel like the people that you hang out with, um, we are a culmination of those people and those things, you know, if you hang with chickens, you're gonna clock, if you hang with eagles, you're gonna fly. If you hang with pot heads, you know, you're gonna smoke. And so my friendships devolved into those that were with people that smoke pot, and I started smoking heavily after I graduated while I was going to college. I'm living with my best friend. That's what we did at the time. You know, and the friendships that I've made during that time period, were based around marijuana usage. Q: Alright, okay. So when did when was the sort of the first time you noticed that, okay, perhaps that's no way sign up for, that's not what I want? I: I think about a year ago, I was trying to make some changes in my life, you know, and I never still, at the time considered my marijuana usage a big deal. It didn't prohibit me from doing anything that I really wanted to do, it didn't really make me lazy. At the time, at least, I didn't think that it did. But I still wanted to quit, because I just felt like it was getting to the point where, you know, you smoke a lot, you're not getting as high as you used to, you know, your people are hanging out with you as much as they used to, because maybe they quit smoking pot, and stuff like that. And so I was like, I really just want to quit, because I'm over it. Like, I think I'm just getting past that point in my life. I'm getting older, you know, it's time to make some different decisions. Q: Okay, alright. So, what happens after that you sort of you get to the point where you say, Okay, I don't think that's the safe for me anymore and I don't want to keep doing this. So what happened after that? I: I struggled extremely. I didn't realize how much of a hold we'd had on me. You know, I don't think I was allowing myself to get through those withdrawal symptoms. You know, and a lot of times, a lot of times, that's a big thing. I think there's a lot of information out there pertaining to weed withdrawals and symptoms and stuff like that. There are legitimate intense physical symptoms, and they I feel like they get written off in favor of, oh, you know, that's a psychological response. Quitting weed is just a mental game. You know, when I first tried to quit, I didn't have the support system necessary to quit. And so I would go two or three days, you know, and I wouldn't smoke but at the same time, I wasn't building effective support systems or habits in order to combat my marijuana usage. And so I just kept falling back into the same old patterns over and over. Q: Okay, so for example, say that you would meet a stranger on the street, and he would ask you what do you mean by withdrawals? I never heard about, you know, marijuana withdrawals because that's something I hear so, so often and use so them write about it. I mean, it's, you know, it's mentioned online, but a lot of people think we just, you know, we were joking, it's like this thing, they just, you know, you experience it for a few minutes, and then it goes away. But it's not like marijuana withdrawal was the freaking heart and that's the reason why you're struggling so much because it takes us so damn long to get over it. So if you would meet a stranger on the street, and he would ask you about the marijuana withdrawals. How does it make you feel, what could you talk about? I: It feels terrible, honestly. And it's something you have to get used to. I sweated so much. I mean, I couldn't even tell you my anxiety was extremely, extremely high. During the first days that I tried to stop using, during this time period of my abstinence, I had more anxiety than I have ever experienced in my entire life. You know, I have lost a parent, I have gone through other things, but I can honestly say that the withdrawals from using pot for several years consistently was very hard. Now, I can tell people that there's light at the end of the tunnel, you know, for the first several days, my anxiety was so high that when I was at work, I just wanted to like, go home and jump under the covers, you know, I wanted to jump out of my skin, because I was just so keyed up, I can't even explain it. You know, it's just something that you feel. The sweating was very persistent. My appetite was very low. It was just terrible, but I feel a lot better today. And you know, it's only six or seven days later. And what I can say is that there's light at the end of the tunnel for people that are trying to quit. Q: So, because so you decided last day decided this is it. I have enough now, and I would imagine it wasn't, it didn't go smooth. You probably relapsed as well, right? I: Yes, I did. And I relapsed multiple times. And I wasn't, I don't think I was happy with the way that I was doing that, which made me even unhappier, and so I smoked more pot, because I thought it was helping with how I was feeling, when in reality, it's just a vicious cycle. You know, you're unhappy you so you smoke pot, and you tell yourself, you're going to quit. So you do good and then you do it again. Q: Absolutely, it’s the vicious cycle is something I think every pot smoker that wants to quit is in. And it's a horrible cycle, because it's like, it's this cycle between self-guilt and self-deprivation. And it's yeah, it's absolutely horrible cycle. So today, I mean, how long have you been sober? How many days have you been, how long has it been? I: About two weeks. Q: Oh, nice. Amazing. I: Yes. Alright, thank you so much. And, you know, I can see myself going forward with this in a way that I never have before. And one of the things that really changed that, for me was exercise. You know, I used to exercise a lot in the past, I used to be an athlete. And so I've done a lot of those types of things before, you know, I've done some research into it. And it helped me with my withdrawal symptoms. It really did. Q: Okay. So two weeks now, you must have done something different. You mentioned exercise, was there anything else or was the exercise this, you know, a major component that changed? I: I can say that exercise was a great component for dealing my withdrawals for with my withdrawal symptoms, and making a long term change in terms of other habits that I should have. I feel like every time you have a bad habit, you should replace it with a good habit. And it doesn't matter what that is, I mean, you know, cigarettes to, you know, anything should be replaced with a good habit. But I also changed my support system around, I still have friends that smoke marijuana. In fact, my roommate still smokes marijuana. And to this day, you know, it's all about that, it's all about the support system and the people that you're willing to be honest with. I mean, this is the same roommate in college that I had, that I was smoking pot with at the time. But I sat him down, and I decided to be a man. And I told him, Look, I don't want to be this kind of person anymore. And we'd actually had that conversation a couple of times before, but I had never been that serious with him about it. You know, he would always tell me, oh, you know, marijuana is not that bad. You know, he just devalued me for trying to quit, because he wasn't at that point yet in his life where he feels like he needs to. And so that was a big struggle between us, but eventually I sat him down. And you know, once you sit down with someone, and really have the power and really tell them how you feel, that changed how he felt you know, about what I was trying to do, and he understands now and he respects that, you know, when he's smoking, he knows that the smell and other things are tempting to people. And so he tries to help me out and support me as much as he can. And I'm very thankful for that. Q: That's huge. And I mean, it's not only huge for your relationship between you and your roommate, but it's also huge for you, because now you have someone that can keep you accountable. And you made this clear decision to you know, announce, listen, I'm doing this, I'm telling you, this is why I'm and this is the future. And that's huge man, that's very well done. Amazing. I: Thank you. And our relationship is still as good as it used to be, you know, when you're trying to make those changes, you can't be afraid to let people or things go. I really believe that, you know, if you're trying to make a change in your life, and someone is holding you back, you need to let them out of your way. And you need to get out of your own way. Q: Exactly. Absolutely. And that is the, yes, that's the reason why a lot of people is still stuck in the person why a lot of people can move past that because they're afraid of letting things go. But once you let certain things go, because you need to, you have to change, you cannot stay in the same place, having the same relationship doing the same things, but expecting to be a different person. It just doesn't work. It's not, you know, it's just crazy. So how did you start with this exercise, tell a little bit more? I: Running, that's it. I just go outside and I run and I run and run. Anytime I had a craving, I would tell my friend Hey, I'm not feeling too good right now. And I would just go outside and run. Um, and it was the only thing that really made me feel better. Now while it didn't take away everything at the time. It did release, you know, those natural endorphins in my brain that helps with all sorts of things. I don't know, you know, people know much about endorphins, we hear about all these chemicals inside of our brain, but I feel like a lot of people don't know a lot about them. But endorphins are peptides. They're produced in your pituitary gland in your central nervous system. They basically act on your opioid receptors, they increase your well-being your like your pleasurable feelings, they reduce your pain and discomfort, pretty much a lot of things that opiates would do for you. And these are produced when you exercise. Q: So was it, okay, so it's about two weeks now, is this two weeks ago, is that the first time you started exercising or was that before and then it slowly got the momentum? I: I used to exercise while under the influence of marijuana. Q: Okay I: It felt really natural. At the time, you know, I felt like I was getting a better workout. Because when you're in that headspace, you find that you're more concentrated on what it is you're doing. So while I was under the influence of that, I felt like I was getting a really good workout. When in the end, those endorphins that are produced in your brain give you the same thing. Q: Excellent. Yes, exactly. Saying now what you know now, obviously comparing yourself, do you track the run? Do you have like an apple, for example, a clock or something? I: No, no, I just go. Q: Oh, you just go. Okay, I wanted to ask you because I hate this so much. And I think this is actually I mean, now, I think I'm 100% sure this is the key to making sure that you never smoke. Because you see what a lot of people do is they say, Okay, I don't want to smoke weed because of that, and that and that. But really what you should do is, you should flip the script and say, I'm smoke I want to smoke weed because of that, that and that. And then you have to change this belief, you have to actually destroy the belief. And I think one of the beliefs you could straightaway destroy is in you said it earlier. And you probably know now, it's not true is that when you are high and you go running, you're more focused. But that's not actually true, is it? I: I don't believe that it is. Q: Excellent. Absolutely. And that's why I asked you if you have tracking because I'm 100% sure that your run now when you went sober would be much better. The performance would be much better than when you went you know, when you were in high so? I: Right. Q: Crazy. I: Now, are you familiar with the endocannabinoid system? Q: I heard about it, but you know, I: You heard about it. Okay, they've been doing a lot more research on it in past years, you know, and it's attributed it was discovered, you know, by a scientist because it has the same molecules in our body as they found in the THC plant. You know, it's just like endorphins. It's another chemical system inside your brain. It regulates your physical processes, but it actually regulates a lot more than the endorphins do. And opiates do, it acts on your appetite, your sleep, your mood, your pain sensation. So when people quit, and they're experiencing this, their endocannabinoid system is trying to reset itself. You know, that's why my appetite was terrible. That's why I couldn't sleep and I was sweating constantly. It's my brain trying to recreate those endocannabinoids. And actually, endocannabinoids, and endorphins are linked to exercise. I've talked to a therapist, and they said, exercise is the only thing that they can approve for people who are trying to overcome drug withdrawal. Q: Absolutely. So what would you say to someone who, for example, you know, I hear a lot of people making up excuses for not exercising, oh, I don't have anywhere to exercise. Oh, I don't, you know, I'm not the exercise person. I don't like this sort of thing. Obviously, you went running? What would you say to someone that, you know, have this sort of excuses and, you know, just to try to sort of give them a bit of motivation? I: Honestly, just that they should. I mean, if they don't, they'll never know, you know, I know plenty of people who don't exercise, you know, especially since COVID, they shut the gyms down here in America, a lot of people just stop exercising, you know, if they were ever exercising, and I think that's false. You know, I work at a job where I wear a suit every day, you know, and that can be an inhibiting factor in terms of exercise, because who wants to take a suit off to change into gym clothes, that's a lot of extra materials, a tie shirt and under shirt, shoes, pants belt, you know. But I just stopped making excuses for myself. That's it, like, there were no more, I would get off of work. And I would get out of my car where I live. And I would just start running suit, no suit, just whatever, wherever I was, I would capitalize on that. And take advantage of that. And that's when I really started to heal, is when I had the confidence to stop making excuses for myself. Q: Absolutely, that's great. That's amazing. I: Thank you. Q: Alright, okay. So you know, you're now about two weeks in so what is the sort of like, short to sort of a short to longer plan as in terms of sobriety recovery? I: I'm going to continue in my journey, I want to keep building my good habits, whatever that may be. You know, I try to do what I say like, replace it one step at a time. You know, I think we all have more than one bad habit. Everybody's just got things that we do. And so I've tried to replace eat, I've gone through each and each bad habit, I sat down and journaled with myself and talk to myself about each thing that I wanted to change, you know, famous people, very, very good businessmen, like Warren Buffett will tell you that you need to look at yourself critically, and that you need to be honest with yourself about your flaws. But you also need to be honest with yourself about your strengths, and the things that you are good at, to build you up while you're trying to make these changes. Q: Absolutely, very, very true. Very true. I: Yeah, you know, I think people overestimate what they can do in one year, but underestimate what they can do in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years down the road, you know, we can create all these goals. But we don't see where they're going to end up that far down the line. We only see them, you know, in that one year span, oh, if I can exercise for six months, you know, maybe I'll have some abs or maybe I'll gain 10 pounds of muscle. You know, but when you look at, if you were able to do that thing consistently for 10 years, you could be running marathons, you could be doing all sorts of things that you're not even aware of, because we underestimate that kind of timeframe. Q: Can I ask you another thing, I know earlier on you mentioned, I think it was last year when you quit and you mentioned anxiety. How is your anxiety now, when you've been think it's been over two weeks, right? I: I have none. I feel like I'm free from it now. I really do. I told my friend, Leah, last night actually. I said wow, I feel really good. I feel as good as I did before I ever smoked pot. You know, and I'm young. You know, I'm saying that from a place I have a lot of resiliency in my brain still. There are people older out there that have been smoking pot for 20, 30 years, you know, and they're gonna have to deal with those symptoms a little longer. I've done research, and I've heard, you know, symptoms can last two, three months. And that can be really bad. But I feel like the anxiety and other things I experienced for myself were just as bad as if somebody had been smoking for 20 years, the only difference is that their symptoms might last longer. And for those people, you know, I'll tell them, don't give up. Because when you feel like that, you know, you know that being the way that you were will alleviate those feelings. But at the end of the day, it's just going to create long term unhappiness, because you're not, you're not allowing yourself to make the change, you know, you need to make, don't give up, because, because when you're in that, you feel like it's gonna last forever, you feel like you'll never be okay that you'll never want to eat good food again, that you'll never have the appetite and the desire the drive to do things. But what I can say is that you will, you will, my symptoms tapered off. You know, the other day I woke up, and I still had some anxiety. It wasn't as bad as those first couple of days. But it was still quite a bit difficult. But I knew at that point that I was starting to feel better. And that motivated me to continue in my journey, because I knew that I wasn't always going to feel this way. You know, everything in life is transitory, you're not always going to the people that you know, now are not always going to be around the changes that you're making now. You know, they could either benefit you or they could change as well. Your job will change. Q: Absolutely. Yeah, that's very well said. I: I actually wanted to go back a little bit and talk a little bit more about the endocannabinoid system. Q: Oh, sure. I: Okay, so they did a study in Germany, on rats at the University of Heidelberg. And so what they found out is, when they blocked the Endocannabinoid receptors in rats, they experienced more depression. In one phase, they blocked the Endocannabinoid receptors and in another phase, they blocked the opioid receptors. What they found out when they blocked opioid receptors is that the rats were you know, they were okay, but blocking those endocannabinoid receptors created a high amount of depression in those rats, and they found that exercise releases those endorphins and activates those endocannabinoid receptors and the exercise and the endocannabinoid system goes together. That's how they replicate the running Hi, you know, they call it the runner's high. And I firmly believe that, you know, humans in the past have been nomadic for 1000s of years, you know, humans moved around constantly, you know, and I feel like the Endocannabinoid receptors were developed to fight that, you know, just because we share something in common with a plant like THC. A lot of people think that means that it was put on this earth for you to take into your body. You know, I'm not against marijuana. I know it doesn't work for everybody. But just because something's in your body doesn't mean that you should partake, you know, just because we have opioid receptors in our body, does that mean we should be doing opiates all the time to make, you know, receptors go off, I'm not quite sure of that. Because we're nomadic, you know, for 1000s of years. We are a product of what developed in our brains at that time. And so I feel like because humans moved and because the endocannabinoid system encouraged, you know, these things of us. Feeling good after exercise after movement. That's really what I think the endocannabinoid system was for. We just think that we should partake because we share it in common with a plant. Q: That's actually a very interesting research. So that was done in Germany in the Uni, right? I: Yes, University of Heidelberg. Q: Okay, interesting. Because, I mean, surely there must be from what I understand the THC bonds onto the receptor is that right, how does it work? I: Yes. Q: Okay. Alright, that's crazy. I never knew that. I: You know, I never knew, when I learn more about that. I was actually shocked you know, because there's a lot of misinformation about the cannabinoid system. Q: Absolutely. And I think that's actually the key to everything. And I mean, you know what I said earlier about you being more focused when you're high, and then when you mentioned anxiety as well and this information. And honestly, that is one of the reasons why I'm doing this podcast as well, because I think we being so brainwashed out there with all this misinformation and how, you know how weed gives you this relaxation, how it helps. Yeah, it probably helps certain medicine way. But I don't think we know enough about it as we think we do. And that's, you know, that's one of the reasons why I talk to different people and want to hear stories like that and I learned so much. And you know, just this research that you told me no, that's amazing. I: Yes, you know, and another thing is, I found out that, hold on, let me think. I lost my whole train of thought. Q: That’s okay. I: Sometimes, that happens. Q: That’s okay, it happens to me as well. I: Just sit there, and you've got this really good thing going on and all of the sudden, your mind is like [BEEP] that’s marijuana. Q: I know exactly, but that your brain is healing, you know that, don't you? I: Yes, yes, I do. You know, and there's this little app that people can download. It's called “Quit Weed”. I've heard about it, you know, through Reddit and other things that I've looked into. And it'll tell you as the day's progress, how your brain is healing. So it says day 20, you know, your attention span should be returning to normal. And I just think that's so cool to you know, see these changes and see, oh, you know, my brain is healing and I love that. I feel like my attention span is, you know, returning to normal, because I know that I look at my buddy and I see him you know, I see him on YouTube or Hulu. And it takes him more time to find something to watch than it actually does to watch something, it’s hilarious. Q: That's a very well, good way of putting it. But yeah, I know exactly what you. Yes, absolutely that’s great. Alright, okay. Well, listen, we kind of sort of running up to the time, because I tried to keep it around 30 minutes. I don't mind if we go a little bit over. But I don't want to go too much over so well. Another thing I wanted to ask, and it's just, it's more my curiosity than anything else. And how did our leaves community help you? Because I remember you telling me earlier on that you didn't really have a support system, was our leaves and this “Quit Weed” app, something you were sort of helping for? I: I've been in our leaves for a long time. And I've made several posts in there. You know, and while it's a good community that can help you, I think it's up to you to make the change. You know, I would get on there and I see so many people struggling, and they are just so negative about the change they're trying to make and the person that they are. And I think you know, you need to develop some positivity first, before you really try to quit, you know. There's a book, it's a great book, it's called “The Atomic Habit”. So book everybody needs to read when they're trying to change their habits. And one of the things that the author says in the book is that you need to re identify, and I noticed a lot of people in that Subreddit. Do not try to re identify. And basically what I mean by that is that people say, I'm trying to quit, you know, but they're still identifying themselves as a smoker. You know, when you're trying to make a big change in your life, you need to re identify you're not a smoker anymore. I'm not a smoker you know, so when people talk to you, you know, and they say, Hey, you know, I'm trying to quit, I don't say I'm trying to quit, I say I'm not a smoker. And that is something that has helped me change my identity, in terms of how I feel about the things that I'm doing and that can be for anything. You want to be a photographer, you know, you're not gonna say, Oh, I'm trying to, I'm trying to just take some pictures. You're gonna say I'm a photographer, you know, I'm a professional, whatever it is that helps you change your identity, to make yourself believe that that's who you are, and that's who you want to be. And I think more people on that Subreddit need to re identify. But in terms of their helpfulness, you know, it was helpful in the way that seeing other people struggle you know, it's the human endeavor. You know, it makes you feel alive to know that other people out there experiencing the same things as you are that are fighting the same fight that you're fighting every day. Q: Oh man, that is huge. I've heard about this book before atomic habits by never really. And the funny thing is, I hear it, I keep hearing it. And I think that's the second time on the podcast, someone mentioned it as well but I never really read it. But this thing about identifying yourself is so damn true. Because, again, if you want to be, you know, if you want to beat someone else, you have to identify yourself as someone else as well. And you have to let go of some things and you have to change some things, you cannot be the same person expect different results, it just doesn't work. But nice, nice, wow, I will definitely remember this. I: Thank you, you should read it. Even if you're already past those things, you know, I think everybody should be reading you know, do something every day that a lot of people aren't doing read something every day that a lot of people aren't reading, you know, I think we have so many inconveniences today, you know, new TV shows coming out all sorts of things to distract us, you know, we should take time away from the phones you know, to journal or to read, you know, if we're really, really adamant and serious about changing things about our lives. A lot of people these days are comfortable, a lot of people in my generation, you know, I'm 24. And I see a lot of people my age, you know, that aren't ready to make those serious changes. And I want them to know that these resources, you know, quit weed out the atomic habit are leaves, there are so many resources that are available for them, you know, their parents are willing to be available for them, you know, if they're just being honest, you know, for the longest time, you know, I wasn't willing to tell my parents that I was a pothead, you know, over here in my adult life in my own space, because I always thought of it in a negative light. But my parents are a resource to me, and I can just be honest, I cannot up and shut up and say, hey, you know, I've been smoking pot, I'm struggling with it. And if I know my parents loved me, they're gonna understand. And in that way, I have just created a new support system and that's really important. Q: Amazing. Well, how did you can I ask you quickly, how did your parents react when you first told them? I: They understand. You know, my parents have always been that way. They've usually been kind of mean about it in the past, in the sense, they're like, you know, you shouldn't be doing those things, you know, but now they're just like, Okay, we understand and we support you. I think it just came with a lot of different things that I told them about. Like, for example, my dad used to be a motorcycle rider, and he got in a serious accident when he was around my age. He was going down the highway, somebody was trying to change lanes and didn't see him, they clipped his back tire and he barely slid, you know, and he had to get skin grafts on his chest, it was very terrible. And after that, it changed him, you know, he didn't want to ride anymore, because he knows how scary it is. People don't watch for motorcyclists here in the United States. So I know the motorcyclists will raise their hands. But I wanted to ride so bad, you know, and I told my dad that I wanted to buy a motorcycle. And he, you know, he was biased, of course, and he told me, son, I don't think that's a good idea. And I said, Dad, I'm not you, you know, this is my life and I need this experience. That was another example where I had to stand up for myself and say, hey, you know, like, I know, this sucks and I know, it's scary, but I'm gonna do this, whether you want me to or not, you know, I'm an adult. Now I need to make big decisions and he understood and we grew as a parent and a son, you know, and it was very, very nice. And I feel like, that led the groundwork for these other changes that I'm trying to be honest about that. Q: Wow, that's amazing. That is, oh listen, I'll sort of have to finish it at here. Like I said, I'm trying to keep it around that time. But man, that was so amazing. And, I mean, I can just hear from your voice, how excited you sound and you know how much energy you got. And I really, really wish you all the best for the future. I can see that you know, you're gonna change perspective that you had a year ago and I can see you firmly standing on this. And yeah, thank you so much for this again. Is there anything else you wanted to say or anything to add or anything like that? I: I just want to reiterate like, don't give up. You know, even if you think that it hurts, and you're in pain, don't give up. You know, the biggest concept is that the human brain, us as individuals, we have been designed to avoid pain and go for pleasure. It's called the pleasure principle. You know, but allow yourself to experience pain, sit with those bad emotions, and let yourself feel them and let yourself see why you feel that way. And eventually, you'll know listen to yourself, listen deep inside, and you'll discover you know why it is you feel that pain, you know, and what you can do about it? So don't give up. Q: Very well said. Alright, listen, thank you so much for this, I cannot even begin to thank you how much I appreciate this. I will edit the file. I don't think this will go out until sort of end of next week, or perhaps a week after that, because I've got a bit of a backlog still. But when it does go out, I'll give you a shout out. I'll give you a link to the episode. And yeah, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. I: Hey, thank you. I really enjoyed being on here, and I really appreciate your time. You're a great person, you know, and I see your website, I see you out here fighting, you know, to help other people make a positive change and I can see you going very far. I hope this podcast blows up. I really do. Because, you know, all these sources of misinformation are what's taking dominant force in the media, and I think things need to change. Q: Well, I mean, my only goal is for the beginning is to get the information out there and to help people and then down the line. I want to sort of make an online platform where you know, people can go and it helps them with the weed addiction. But yeah, you're absolutely right, there is too much misinformation out there. And with all the weed legalization lately is, is just going downhill. So it's sort of a battle, even though I don't think of it as a battle. But you know, just the man on the mission who's been there and that's it. I: And at that time, people are gonna need you more than ever, you know, it's just like alcohol and cigarettes, when things get legal, and it's around you all the time, it makes it much, much harder to make a positive change. So I really feel like you're gonna go a long ways because, you know, once legalization goes worldwide, you know, people are gonna need this, they're gonna need a better support system. Just like Alcoholics Anonymous, you know, it was at the time that was founded, it was legal, you know, so it's just a big thing. Q: Man, thank you so much for this again. You're more than welcome to keep in touch over the Reddit or, you know, just shoot me some messages or whatever. But stay on the course you got this. And I can see as well, you shooting for the long, long range and I don't even doubt for a second you're gonna reach it. And thanks again for this whole thing. I really appreciate it, and we keep in touch. I: We'll keep in touch. Thank you. Q: Thanks man. Bye now, bye for now. PODCAST OUTRO: Alright, another episode done. And listen, I hope you enjoyed this. We are doing this more and more. I mean, saying we're doing recording, but this wouldn't be possible without all those people coming on board. So a big thank you to our anonymous interviewee today, it was a great, it was a pleasure talking to you and learn a lot. If you are someone that is struggling with tweet, check the website mylastjoint.com have made a new guide, which you should find. Just go onto the website and then you will see there is like a little box there, where you can click and it will download the guide. Make sure you check the all leaves community as well, which is on Reddit. And my mailbox is always open which is info@mylastjoint.com. Again, I thank you each one of you for listening. If you don't mind, please press like, follow or subscribe button, whatever it's there. It helps a lot with ranking podcasts higher, which means that other people can find it. And yeah, that's it for now. We'll see you in the next episode. Bye.
