u/Intelligent_Toe_243

It’s like being in a warm pool where you feel cozy, relaxed, and comfortable. You could stay in there forever, but eventually you realize you’re pruney, overheated, dehydrated, or just done. The problem is that getting out sucks. The second you step into the cold air, your first instinct is to get right back in because being outside the water feels uncomfortable and wrong.

But if you stay out, dry off, and give your body time to adjust, something shifts. The cold doesn’t feel so bad anymore. You start feeling normal again. Comfortable, even. And once you’ve fully adjusted, the idea of getting back in doesn’t have the same pull.

I know this is a weird analogy, but that’s what quitting weed has felt like for me. The hardest part is the initial discomfort, because your brain wants to run back to what feels familiar and comforting. But the longer you stay out of the water, the less you crave it, and eventually, you just move on.

I wanna start by saying that I have fallen in love with my sober baseline. I realized that more than ever on Sunday when I decided to smoke with friends. I took the tiniest hit. It felt terrible. It was the opposite of relaxing. The high felt bad. I was in my own head, ruminating, overthinking, overanalyzing, and being introspective about everything. I regretted everything. I would spiral into negative thought zone outs. Idk how I was enjoying this or doing it all the time for like 16 years. Even interacting with others felt awkward. It also made my voice super small and meek. I hated myself on it. I could not wait to wake up the next day and just not be high.

A part of me feels grief because when I quit weed, I did not know I would be saying goodbye to “that feeling” forever. But another part of me feels relief, knowing that I was romanticizing an attachment that no longer exists.

Yes, I know it is more effective for chlamydia and syphilis than gonorrhea, yes, HPV and Herpes still exist,

But Doxy works more often than it does not, at least for me. Knock on wood, but I have been a HOE and I have not had an STI since 2024. Before, I had gonorrhea multiple times.

This stuff works; take it if you can. And take your PreP too. Your doctors recommend it when you know you are highly sexually active, as a lot of gay men are, so just listen to your doctors when they tell you to take it.