What are YOUR triggers for relapse?

Outdoor things that used to be smoking events like going skiing or going to the beach. random but strange

Doing the same things over and over (boredom) and nice weather..

Boredom

the end of a night of the devils dandruff, being hungover (even tho my hangovers have significantly reduced since quitting), drinking too much coffee, lazy sundays. lol i just really try to consider how i feel not just after smoking but several hours later. it’s never worth it

Anger and high stress. I work as a waitress so Im fucked.

Hi stress environments

4 Ds. Delay distract drink water do something else. Also 12 step meetings all fought off triggers till sober became the new normal - now 5 yrs

Luckily I don’t really have any, if the thought of smoking comes in my head I just kinda let it pass & don’t act on it.

Anything that reminds me of my mothers unrequited love, so dating. LOL

I hate that it is my biggest trigger, but it is.

Iam on day 2 so for its good but i keep reminding my self why i need to be sober its helping to not smoke

After I quit the first time and was 1.5yrs clean I got guilt tripped into going to Amsterdam with my cousin because his friends bailed on him. That descent was SWIFT.

Certain music which sucksssssss. and stress

one of my triggers is my friends. It’s so hard when everyone around u is smoking and talking about it. Just makes me wanna smoke too so bad

Porn, nicotine, hanging out with smokers, boredom

On day one again. My triggers are definitely stress, boredom, loneliness. I got dumped yesterday in a pretty inconsiderate way, and my first instinct was to smoke. To numb myself out because I’m not capable of dealing with reality. I just need to remind myself of why I want to quit in the first place, even in the heat of the moment. It’s just hard.

On day 4. Mine always revolve around boredom. More specifically, boredom when I'm alone. My early days of smoking where when I was in my first apartment on my own. I did and still do romanticize those days of toking up after finishing homework for classes and gaming, so when I have a night where my girlfriend is staying with her parents, I always have this desire to try and recreate those nights. They never end up hitting the same and I always regret smoking, but then I'll do it again the next night.

She's going out of town next week, wish me luck in staying strong and embracing the boredom!

I am relatively good at keeping it away, i can smoke and be clean for months. What gets me is usually smoking once, and then reaching for it in the following week, since "it doesnt make a difference"  Although to be honest since I realised this I managed to be stronger. What usually gets me in the first place is going to the party, and then not smoking or not smoking enough due to tolerance. I then get back and smoke. 

Or you know, since I am relatively tense person for a weed user so sometimes i realize I have to chill because I become very tough. 

Stress, boredom, and 4 pm hahaha

Loneliness is the worst one for me. I don't have any real friends anymore, and sometimes I just want to be stoned to not think about it.

Dealing with anhedonia is hard too... I cannot play music anymore. I know it will go away eventually, but for now it just sucks.

Stress, anxiety, stomach issues, feeling lonely, drinking, boredom

Loneliness

I haven't had a single trigger since the hell that I went through for 3-4 weeks after quitting cold turkey after nightly use for about 6 years. I'm 3 months on.

I think the hell, and hating every second of it, has turned off the triggers in my head.

Maybe they'll come later, I just have to be aware anything is possible.

I relapsed at a $uicideboy$ concert ☠️

Extended boredom

Psychologically speaking, the answer is really simple, since most of us in here at this point might consider it a bad habit. The thing about bad habits (or addictions as such), is that they are impossible to permanently shake of. The reason is that the bad habit is your default behavior. This results in your going back to it whenever you loose grip or focus in life. And this can come through anything. Job less, break up, family death, you name it. If by then you haven't created a new, positive "default" habit, chances that you'll fall back into the old habit are sadly very high.

Movies and music ( “if they are smoking it can’t be that bad” or “the person in the movie is stressed or sad so he/she is smoking… that means it is okay if I smoke too”)

• being angry, when something that isn't fair happens
• a bench in front of a beautiful view
• nature
• smelling it
• junk food

Honestly it's my first quitting after 12 years of daily use and I didn't relapse yet, even tho I have extreme triggers. My mom is a heavy smoker and my fiance smokes socially, also my sister and friends smoke occasionally, and I still roll a joint for my fiance here and there cause he can't. I feel like it's building my strength against it, so I won't just fall when it's around, it's completely under my control and this way it won't control me just by being there. Not for everyone and not the best setting for quitting, but it is what it is, I might as well look at it in a positive, building kinda way

101 days clean

looking at pictures when i was happy, silly, & HIGH with my best friend for all hours of the night. nostalgia for sure

HALT - being hungry, angry, feeling lonely, or tired. This goes for any addiction. I try to check in with myself on these things if I notice I’m triggered. If it’s all 4 and I’m particularly irritable and having a bad day, the cravings can be a lot.

I’ve found that nourishing my body and just letting myself get the anger/irritation/sadness out through a little sobbing or talking to someone who knows about my journey with marijuana is really helpful. Leaning into the emotions and feeling it helps in the end unfortunately lol 🥲

Stress or visiting/being visited by a friend/family member that smokes

Everything, lol.

Cleaning - its difficult and boring to focus on cleaning. It used to be easy to do before quitting

For me a big one it turned out was my adhd medicine wearing off in the evening.

Only noticed it once I started tracking my usage with an app, then realized that all of my relapses were within an hour window at night. I ended up doing the math with the half life of my medication and turns out that’s when it’s effectively worn off and I have my biggest dip in dopamine.

Told my psychiatrist and we decided to split my dose so I take half in the morning, and half around noon to smooth out the dip, and it made a huge difference.

I’m now coming up on 1.5 years clean next week.

Not being able to sleep. I want to fall asleep as easily. Also, trippy TV shows.

mental pain. i just haven’t figured out how to not feel things so deeply. like i have physically pain when i’m mentally hurting and it makes me want to smoke.

Vacation and the holidays. Always the damn holidays and vacation.

Nothing this time. I hate weed now.

Last time was because I had a little bit to drink (1-2 drinks maybe) and even though it was mild, it was enough to make me wanna hit my dealer up. Only was at about 4 days at that point.

Before that, it was my ex coming to my house and leaving a gift at my door even though I didn't want him to. I was already feeling kinda bad (don't remember why) but this pushed me over the edge, breaking a 6 month streak.

Before that, I was back to living at my parents house and eventually got bored/felt stuck/reverted to my teenage self.

Overall though, the trigger seems to be boredom + a bad feeling, whether it's anxiety, depression, or something else.

Drinking alcohol, I’d never use to drink without getting high first as I’m not much of a drinker…

Sitting in my car for long periods of time, my apartments were non smoking so I always smoked in my car…

Nostalgia about past use for sure

Like it could be a pretty day. I’m reminded of the summer of 2016 with my ex. Boom.

In the past boredom or loneliness made me relapse. My longest sober streak was 55 days, and on a particularly uneventful night (while bored) I decided to go buy some on a whim. I used and felt horrible. Guilty, absolutely disappointed. I smoked for another 18ish months straight before getting sober again. I’m at 5 weeks clean now.

I’ve learned that I MUST keep busy.

This might sound weird but for me personally it’s when I’m happy. I’ve been smoking it for ten years now with a few breaks here and there and it’s always the same routine. Ill notice things I need to sort out in my life, I’ll get sober doing it, be miserable for the first week or two, start feeling amazing around a month then because I’m happy again with the way my life is i smoke to enjoy it and then it repeats itself

7 months sober.

Hanging out with friends. Video games. Nature.

Being home alone overnight for even one evening, apparently. My life feels really hectic and unsettled with my wife and kids, and when they’re away it’s so hard not to indulge and “give myself a break” when in retrospect of course never feels worth it or even good really. Also with a marriage on the rocks the stakes feel really high for staying on track, but lately the “fuck it” has been strong. There’s only so much stress I can take.

I’m 47 on day 45 and I think the summer evenings chilling outside are going to be the toughest for me so far.

I take tbreaks with my brother. Whenever he breaks them first I need to break mine too. When I break mine he breaks his. It’s good to quit with someone, but bad if you let yourself fall off when they do

Not knowing what I will do to pass the free time, overthinking, anxiety

Evenings as a single parent. It’s the main way I take a break. I enjoy smoking. Period. I quit cigs 15 years ago, after almost 30 years of smoking, and it is the ritual as much as it is the habit and the effects that call me to the garage every night for my escape. I quit right now so I can pass a drug test and I’m enjoying the clarity and shift in my life, but I miss smoking. I guess it’s like cigs for me tho, I’m either all in or all out.

Drinking. I quit alcohol about 3 months ago, then quit vaping thc about 3 weeks ago. While on vacation this past weekend I decided to have a beer. The 1 and done with the beer was no problem. But the cravings for the vape or edible kicked in HARD! I didn’t cave, but I honestly was worried that I would relapse and go back to it all. I’m glad I didn’t but will not be having any alcohol while trying to stay sober from weed. That was my trigger.

Loneliness, but that’s really due to my anxious attachment style. if I allow myself to go down that path then I will get cravings. But ! I don’t do that. I am in control of my own emotions and decisions. I remind myself that the cravings will pass in 10-15 minutes, I just need to get out of my head and into my body.

Future you will be so proud of you for doing whats required. Life is awesome when you don’t feel like you need a crutch to depend on, just to handle .. life.

Keep the train rocking, going on day 4 tomorrow. We got this

Just thinking about it

Hmm right now when I’m home alone for the evening.

A nice sunny summer day, especially when I’m driving on the highway and can smell it in the air. Makes me nostalgic for all blunt cruises I went on when I was younger.

Being bored which is most of the time

Alcohol. Not only does it make me crave weed, smoking would immediately stop the spins if I had gone too far. Teaching myself the lesson of either being REALLY conscious with my drinks (I.e., no getting drunk or too buzzed) or just cutting out alcohol entirely.

Lonely nights

Everything and anything.

Thinking I’m cured and can just do it once…gotta remind myself this is going to be a lifetime fight. The Bourdain quote helps.

Drinking

For me it’s either happy occasions ( permissive thought of celebration) or when I m drunk and weed is around .

Life

For me it's my thinking and the general stresses of life. Like I always end up thinking that life is hard enough as it is so why not use something that makes it easier and more fun? The problem is that I'm a total addict and can't control myself so eventually any benefit is gone and all im left with is less money and only the negative effects of weed. If only I could smoke occasionally, but I can't! I've tried like 70 times already.

my insane household sometimes, stress, social group. but i am moving out in a month, i expressed my maladaptive coping mechanisms to my therapist and we have found me some new things to do instead, and i cut off my heavy weed smoking friends although i feel bad i cant just hear them talk abt smoking all day and not want to do it. its triggering and id rather not stay in a hole

Boredom. I’ve had to keep myself insanely busy to stay off of it. Good news is it’s doing a world of good for my social life and career

My job and coping because of it. Depression pretty much

Interacting with my dysfunctional family

Emotional overwhelm.

I'm 36 and sad to say that the longest I've gone without weed in my adult life has been around 5 months up until about march 2020. Recently had 3 months up until january, my girlfriend lost her job and was super depressed.

It's fair to say that a lot of us addicted to marijuana may be lacking emotional coping skills outside of getting high to numb ourselves. To be fair that's what a lot of pharmaceutical drugs do as well though.

I had an accident in October, I fractured my vertebrae and hurt my neck. I was in so much pain. I tried quitting a few months ago but all I did was cry.

I am trying again. My 1st full day of no smoking.

I just wanted to numb the pain. They adjusted my pain meds and now I think I can do it.

Relapse is from pain

Boredom 100%. It takes the dull out of every day life for me

Boredom. Spent a decade drunk and five years high. Now I have to figure out what to do. I can do anything in the world..,except drugs. And that daunts me

Today has been my most triggering day, I want to give in so badly. I’m on day 9. Stressful day at work, came home and had to take my 13yr old bunny rabbit to the emergency vets and having to syringe feed him. I feel myself losing my patience with the smallest things, idiot drivers on the road, even just trying to get dinner sorted for myself. In my head, one toke will just take it all away but I REALLY don’t want to give in. My OH hasn’t stopped smoking yet but he does support me stopping. Its so hard. I need help!

Depression and anxiety

Art / music events & gatherings

Loneliness

Boring days

Stress and depression

Stress - I never took the time to just sit and breathe, or meditate. Weed just seemed quicker but even after awhile I never sat and enjoyed the high. I would try to find a good show to watch or some high quality munchies, never stayed in the moment like what weed had first done for me

Be happy - as weird as it is I would want to ride the high of being happy, make it last as long as possible but I think that goes back to me not being in the moment

I made a list of things that help me avoid smoking when stressed for me it's

Making tea Reading a book I like Doing my skincare routine

It's only after having used all these that if I still feel stressed that's when I'll allow myself to relapse

I understand some may disagree with this method and that's fine but to me if after I've done all this I still want to smoke that tells me there is a strong stressor I need to deal with in my life that may need to be removed

Recently I relapsed but I realized I need to change my routine I'm not diagnosed but I have many symptoms of PCOS including irregular cycle. I realized what made it worse was I changed my workout routine from afternoons to EARLY mornings, I'm talking 3am early morning, for awhile the routine was okay but it's caused me to have an irregular period, less sleep, less stability and even less me time outside of the gym because I have to take so much time the night before to prepare and therefore I can't enjoy my evening

Sometimes relapsing is good (to an EXTENT) because it shows us our real problems in life that got us all hear

It could be a toxic job, lover, parent, home environment, etc and weed helped us cope but now we need to do what we can to get out of these situations or at the very least find a better way to cope

This time it was a mountainbiking accident. 3 fractured ribs, dislocated shoulder and mild concussion. If I can't do sports, I'll relapse it seems. Oh well, tomorrow is day 3 again. Was off weed for almost 4 months prior to the accident.

Officially a month clean now. My trigger is usually loneliness, feeling like I’m not progressing in life, or body image issues. I haven’t felt the need to break my sobriety at any point yet, but those feelings make me miss the disassociation weed allowed me to have from them.

Funny enough, I had a dream last night where I ripped a bong and I actually felt upset when I woke up and realized it wasn’t real. Sucks that the addict within me is still alive.

Depression and loneliness. Then to escape the loneliness I get high, but I never do anything about my loneliness. I feel like I will be trapped in this cycle forever.

I’ve quit for about a month now. I’m going to a games night Friday at a friends, they are my heaviest smoking friend and I have been contemplating all week if I have enough will power to just smoke on Friday and go back to quiting. I probably don’t especially considering how many times I’ve thought about it since I got the invite. So basically going to a place I usually smoke to hang with a person who generally functions around smoking every hour like I have been for years.

Drinking alcohol is number one. I have a couple beers and my self control goes out the window. I usually drink once a week and have been thinking about stopping altogether in order to not get that urge to go buy edibles.

First it was stress. Now i have a harder time staying away from it when i feel good, like i deserve it. Also, opportunity, like a full evening off and no plans the next day. Luckily i have kids and this doesnt happen alot

Concerts. And being alone like if I'm traveling alone or have the house to myself for a long period of time.

my current triggers are: —Overstimulation —Overcommitting —Certain people with whom i love smoking spliffs —Hashish —Staying at my Mum’s house when I’m in canada cuz she uses it for sleep and here house smells deliciously like weed as a result —My covert narcissist Dad

Past triggers have also been: —Thinking I’ve spent enough time not high that I can “just smoke a little and it’ll be fine” or “take just one puff” or “just smoke occasionally” —getting off stage and “celebrating” with fellow musicians esp after a show i’d been workin on for weeks and promoting for months.

I noticed that a big trigger for me is feeling any type of negative emotion. Even being hungry turns to “hangry” and being irritable and then I just want to smoke. I’ve been journaling a lot to get out what I’m feeling at the moment. I also have to stop sometimes and think: have I eaten today? Have I gone outside? Have I been drinking water? It seems silly but my body is so sensitive to those things.

I also take medication for anxiety and depression and if I miss a day or something it’s like all my emotions have way more control over my mind. So I have really been trying to stay on top of taking them and not missing any days.

I’ve been regularly taking certain supplements To strengthen my endocannabinoid system. Humans naturally have cannabinoid receptors in their body’s. I’m not a doctor, obviously, but my theory is to strengthen this system in my body so maybe it will help me to stay sober.

Boredom

For some reason my triggers are any sort of conflict in my relationships because I think it strikes an insecurity in me and I just want to numb it out. happened last night, I had a fight with my boyfriend and all I wanted to do was get stoned but I forced myself to just feel the emotions (scary!!) and sleep on it. Definitely not similar to first experiences high because I didn’t use it as an emotional crutch until I was rlly addicted. I’ve found that calling a friend and catching up is really nice and reminds me that I’ll be fine in my relationships haha or just other activities to distract me like cleaning, doing a deep self care routine and shower, etc…