I don’t know if I’m ready to stop smoking marijuana …

You feel that the time has come to stop smoking marijuana, however, there is always a reason to put off the “ideal time” to quit.  There is always a reason why it is inconvenient, something to wait for or a better future situation to do it, but you know that you need to quit. You know, because you are tired of addiction, of the need to smoke on a daily basis, also needing more and more to smoke in order to anesthetize the symptoms of addiction. You are tired of that depressed state of mind most of the time and the anxiety invades you when you need the substance to “relax”, further fueling addiction and the endless vicious cycle. There is an increased level of isolation and social relationships have been reduced. What little contact you have left is made with people who also consume and their mental state is the same as yours. You perceive a great lack of clarity when it comes to thinking and there is nothing that motivates or excites you.

You already know that quitting smoking would make a change for the better, you know what are the advantages and disadvantages of smoking marijuana but it is difficult for you to face the change and reach a definitive commitment to quit addiction.

Let me tell you something, there is no perfect “time” to quit smoking, the time is now. Taking care of yourself is not compartmentalized by moments or days, the best time is today, now, you can start taking care of yourself and getting closer to the life that you already know that is the life that you want to achieve: a healthier, more lived life with a better quality of life.

If you feel identified with what has been explained so far, I will tell you that you are in the “Contemplation” phase.

This stage of the process of change that we have been describing in the previous lines, are part of the trans-theoretical model of Prochaska and DiClemente and about the stages of change before any habit replacement that we want to do in our lives.

As we see in the following image, in the contemplation phase, the example person wants to stop smoking tobacco, but does not set a date for it, does not commit to change.