How Cannabis Can Support Your New Year’s Resolutions
It’s that time of year again, a time of resolutions. Whether you’re looking to make improvements to your life, your body or your relationships, cannabis is here to help. Because let’s face it, if these things were easy, we wouldn’t need a resolution to get around to them! Here’s a look at some of the most popular resolutions and some tips on how cannabis can help support your goals.
Exercise More / Lose Weight
Yep, this one’s a biggie. It’s the #1 New Year’s resolution of most Americans. If you’re a cannabis novice, you may associate using it to being hungry and lazy but that’s far from the truth. While indica-dominant strains typically have these effects, a spritely sativa strain can produce the exact opposite! Pure sativa strains quite commonly produce both mental and physical energy while suppressing the appetite. Try a couple of hits before you work out and around mealtimes to maximize the benefits.
Get Organized / Learn a New Skill
Fortunately, it’s easy to learn how to do new things thanks to the internet. Whether organization or learning a skill tops your resolution list, that’s the first place to go for information and inspiration. If you want to learn a new tech skill, try Lynda. Com. Crafts? YouTube. Lessons from organizational masters? Still YouTube. From make-up to motorcycle repair, the internet is filled with free tutorials. So how can cannabis help? Certain strains of cannabis can create an almost hyper-focused mental state, allowing you to become completely absorbed in a task (or several hours of video tutorials). If you’re the easily distracted type, ask your cannabis steward for strain recommendations that increase focus.
Quit Smoking
Quitting smoking is extremely hard. Even once you’ve managed to kick the physical nicotine addiction, the mental hold of cigarette smoking can linger for years or even decades (former smoker here). It’s no accident that my favorite cannabis consumption method is joints. The truth is that smoking cannabis carries significantly fewer health risks than cigarettes. Statistics support that tobacco not cannabis is responsible for 400,000 deaths annually in America (NIH). Not only is there no correlation between lung and colorectal cancers and cannabis, but cannabinoids have been shown to attack cancer cells. So, there you go. Switch to cannabis pre-rolls or learn to roll your own (see resolution #2). It’ll make quitting tobacco so much easier.
Live Life to the Fullest / Spend More Time with Family and Friends
If you want to get the most out of life, you need to practice mindfulness. Humans spend all their time in their heads, often thinking about past or future events. Check it out yourself. Start paying attention to how much time you spend thinking about things that have happened (past conversations, events, conflicts) or what might happen (future conversations, events, conflicts).
With the many distractions available to us, it’s rare to spend time in a moment. Even while we eat, entertain, spend time with friends and family, we’re increasingly behind a tiny screen, capturing photos or video for social media, checking email or news, playing games, tagging people, tweeting.
Luckily, cannabis is here to help. Like the strains that can help you stay focused, cannabis is wonderful of making you aware of things happening in the present. Smoke a bowl and go outside. Just spend a few minutes feeling the sun and breeze and soon you’ll be aware of birdsong, neighborhood noises, physical sensations you weren’t aware of, etc… It’s great for opening your mind to things we usually tune out. Cannabis also has a way of bringing people closer. Share a joint with a friend and take a walk, phones off. Or just share the experience of being high together. Use cannabis as a tool to help you stay present, just stay away from spacy, floaty strains!
Looking for great cannabis recommendations to support your resolutions? Ask our helpful cannabis stewards for recommendations on in-stock products!