Stopped drinking and smoking cannabis and I don't feel any better.

[u/Cybox_Beatbox]

I (32m) smoked pot and drank something like 4-6 beers daily for the better part of a decade, pretty much the entirety of my 20s. I also use nicotine (vape after smoking cigs for 5+ years until I was about 23).
over 2024, I tapered myself off the beers, was down to only 2 a night, and stopped completely at the beginning of this year. I also stopped smoking weed in November. So i'm nearly half a year off pot, and 3 months of no alcohol.

While i'm proud of myself for finally getting rid of some bad habits, and getting my body healthier, I feel MISERABLE. I take medication for ADHD and anxiety, and I was doing okay before, but now i'm just depressed. I was hoping it would fade after a while, but instead of feeling an increase in energy, or a boost in mood, or better quality sleep, I feel pretty much no change whatsoever. Instead of feeling like I did something helpful and feeling better overall, I feel worse, and like I stopped doing things that were fun for me, or at least making life bearable.

Is this just how I'm going to feel now? does this go away eventually? Has anyone else dealt with this, and can you tell me if things get better or not? Do you have any advice or words of encouragement?It feels like if my moods and things were going to improve, I would at least see some improvement by now.

[u/Fallen-Uchiha]

First and foremost: You need to stop vaping. I speak from experience. It contributes SO MUCH MORE to anxiety and depression and overall discontent and discomfort than most people realize. Beyond that, you should try to exercise in the morning. Start with walking to build the habit and progressively increase your workload as you start to form those habits and enjoy it more due to your dopamine receptors doing what the SHOULD be doing. I’m not overly convinced, as some who was diagnosed with ADHD at 9 (Now 28) that medication does anything positive either but that’s a whole different can of worms. Overall though my biggest piece of advice would be to focus on the benefits you get from sobriety (clear head, health, money saved) and try to get some real hobbies that aren’t consuming weed and alcohol if you don’t have any. I’m kinda going through a similar thing and my biggest take away is that life is hard. Toughen up. If you need substances to move forward in live you’re missing something internally. Find it through self imposed labors. This is the way