Hey ! My story is kinda similar . I was a severely depressed teenager and basically just spent my entire time by myself sleeping , until I started smoking . Then all of a sudden I was able to be happy , I could socialise and started to get more friends , and I just generally felt carefree and at peace . However , as you described I slowly started smoking more and more , to the point where I couldn ' t stop thinking about being high and I felt the need to be high every waking moment just to function . But inevitably I hit a bit of a wall , started becoming really anxious and paranoid and started having panic attacks . At this point I realised I needed to quit and have currently gone 3 months without smoking minus one minor lapse . Basically I just wanted to say , from my current experience , it ' s all about mindset . Although it ' s a daily struggle and a tiring one at that , I try to keep positive and think about the situation objectively , that is , I ' ve been a very depressed teen and I resorted to heavy smoking to aid me , but now I ' ve outgrown my need to smoke whether I wanted to or not and I just need to take the lessons I ' ve learned that it is possible for me to feel happiness and socialise , albeit with some chemical assistance and move forward with them as a basis for having a better life . Looking back I ' ll only see all the dark times , especially without that everything is good weed haze mental filter , so the only positive step I can take is to look forward and take some time to look after my mind and body . I ' ve really found exercise and good diet beneficial , just forcing myself to eat even when I have no appetite and trying to stay active . You might even consider supplements though you might want to check with a doctor , I ' m currently taking omega 3 , ginseng and ginkgo biloba , it might be a total placeboeffect kinda situation but there are some reasonable studies to say they ' re at least somewhat effective at treating mental health kinda things . Having a good sleeping routine is good too , even if you can ' t sleepsleep too much . I ' m guilty of oversleeping , I think because I now sleep really lightly and don ' t have a great quality of sleep , but by just setting an alarm a little early I can slowly train myself to get into a better routine especially if I exercise a little during the day . As for friends and socialising , it can be difficult and I haven ' t quite figured that out yet , it ' s pretty tricky when all of your friends are bigtime stoners and you feel a little strange around them , I guess the only things to do are to just grin and bare it and force yourself to keep at it or to find some other friends easier said than done , but not impossible . Sorry this turned into a bit of an essay , I hope you take some comfort in the fact you ' re not alone in this and things can improve if you keep at it . Feel free to send me a message if you want TLDR you ' re not alone , fill your time with productive things and just force yourself into a routine .