Using this time for self improvement

Ill start, I successfully quit my nicotine addiction a little over 3 months ago cold turkey, last hit was Jan 20th. However I still had a bad habit with smoking pot every night. When I first started it was mind blowing to me, music was amazing, and it felt great. But after a while, I felt like I was just doing it out of habit. I felt super foggy during the day, kinda like I was living with tunnel vision. I had trouble articulating myself and often times I would struggle to find simple words or hold basic conversations. Half the times I would light up and not even remember it the next day. So after 4/20, where I literally just did it because that's what you're "supposed to do that day," I dropped it. I decided to stop sitting around waiting for stuff to return to normal and take advantage of what I can. One week in and I feel so good and clear headed. It's so freshening to have some mental clarity after months of brain fog and telling myself that it wasn't effecting me. I've had some side effects, notably loss of appetite (I'm down around 8-10 pounds in this week, struggling to pull 1000 calories a day but I'm getting better everyday), I really struggle to fall asleep now (Weed knocks you the hell out!), and I get some bad night sweats, but it feels great to actually have dreams again (weed messes with REM sleep, you don't dream while using it). Besides that, I've rediscovered my love for running,  I started meditating and doing these incredible Wim Hof breathing exercises I recommend to everyone, here's the link, it takes about 10 minutes, but you get a great body rush just from breathing:

I've been reaching out to several old friends and i've been sending a video of myself playing a piece on piano to my lovely Grandma everyday. I'm feeling great all day, rather then just for one hour before going to bed. I'll drink with friends every now and then, but i've used this time to become completely sober, and I plan to keep it that way. 

Excited to see what others have to say!

Wife and I are not smokers or drinkers so not sure why he wants to do the doobie .

As far as your topic, wife and I are walking a lot more, which has been a bigger change for her as I am a big walker. I'm very athletic but I can't STAND jogging, just never found that it made me feel good and seems like it is bad for knees and back. When we watch TV it is more documentaries than say useless calorie free shows.....Not much else since we are homeowners and my wife has a huge garden so we spend a lot of time outside.

Agreed on Moonmadness.  One of my fave Camel albums and definitely a 5 star for me.    Never heard Serpent though so I might check it out..

  I was a smoker of both cigarettes and pot for many years. I started smoking cigarettes when I was 11 years old one night in my mates big brothers attic and that one night got me hooked for over 20 years.  I finally gave it up when I realised it was killing me  - I couldn't get rid of this bloody awful cough I had and would often spontaneously start coughing my lungs up in the middle of random conversations with other people, which aside from anything else was mightily embarrassing.  A random medical check at my place of employment at the time informed me my lung capacity was equivalent to those of a 49 year old when I myself was a mere 38.  Not good. I kicked the nasty habit with the help of nicotine patches and lasted one year before going back to it.  After that it was a constant battle over about a 3-4 year period which I think I finally won.   I haven't smoked for 20 years now.

Regarding the pot.  I started with it around the time I was getting in to Seconds Out. That was back in 1978 when I was 18.  I smoked the stuff on and off for around 15 years before finally giving it the kick, again for health reasons.  As much as it might enhance the appreciation of music, I find that it makes me paranoid in the extreme, kills conversation stone dead, makes me cough like hell and leaves a godawful nasty taste in my mouth which is still there the next morning.  I could never quite make up my mind if pot enhanced my sense of musical creativity or not, but whether it did or didn't, the price required in terms of general health and mental well being just isn't worth it as far as I'm concerned.

Nowadays I'm a cyclist and still train with the weights 2-3 times a week and am in reasonably good nick at age 60 apart from a few little joint problems in my knee and lower back, although my lung capacity is still probably a bit less than it could have been if I had never started with the fags.... 

What have I been doing to keep my sanity over the last 7 weeks..?   I locked myself away for many hours at a time in my home studio and re-recorded one of my old albums which I was never very happy with.  I renewed my relationship with my guitars which have been sitting on their wall hangers doing nothing for the best part of the last year and it's all been very fulfilling. I'm now considering doing the same thing again with another old album I was never very happy with..  :)