Hi, /u/sobachi! It's important to remember that quitting a habit is just the surface of a total life change. The real habit going on here is turning to substances to ease your emotional pain. That's why it's important to address the pain directly. Many, many people have turned to weed to 'feel better' -- and it works for a while because bliss appears to be an adequate substitute for happiness. I, too, went down this path -- it took me a long time to even grasp that I was depressed to begin with. But I wanted my life back!

"Stonethrownaway what did you end up doing the first days of quitting? How did you manage to fill that empty void?" When I started this journey, I had a plan. Right at the beginning, I told my dealer that I was quitting and he just laughed: he'd heard that before. "You'll be back", he said. (That was 3 years ago and I haven't seen him since.) Although it's not recommended on this subreddit, I weaned off; however, I knew that I wouldn't be getting any more when that was done: that's why it worked for me. I was psychologically prepared for running out; even so, my brain still craved for several months.

I knew that I had to come up with something that would keep me busy, because my default behavior was to say, "Oh well, I'm just going to get high." That was no longer an option for me. I actually began to look forward to those half-hour walks; as you said, it does one good to get outside those four walls. Sometimes I would walk for a longer time: I would go to museums and libraries, and that gave me something outside of myself to occupy my attention. Then I had books to read, and I made art (in my case, colored pencil cartoons -- I'm not much of an artist) that expressed my changing feelings about life.

And I would work on myself, using a technique called 'self-directed cognitive-behavioral therapy' .The basis of this is that our emotions follow our thoughts, so -- by changing our thoughts -- we can then change our emotions. (Here is an article to get you started.) One underlying thought that many people have is "There is nothing I can do." This is false -- there is always something you can do. The crucial element here is you -- you can take control of your life and move beyond just dosing yourself with substances.

Almost everyone with depression also has anger -- which they have learned to suppress. You can use this anger as a way to move beyond it! You no longer have to suppress your natural feelings -- you are not in that situation any more. Find -- in your mind -- who put you there, then forgive them and move on: you will automatically feel better as you let go of the suppressed anger. You are free!

I found -- as I worked on myself -- that the more I stopped being pre-occupied with my inner pain, the more that I could appreciate the natural world outside myself. I began to take an interest in the world again. When is the last time you looked -- really looked -- at a bird? Or a flower? Or a sunset? Nature continues! And it's always there, going on.

"Right now my problem is lack of motivation and drive to do anything." That's a definite 'feature' -- if you can call it that -- of the weed. When you stop letting a plant control you, you can retake control of your life. It's your life! If you quit just for today, you will start feeling better. Say to yourself every morning when you wake up, "Just for today I won't smoke weed." And once you get used to doing this, you'll take pride in doing so: you won't want to break the chain. After all, you will be feeling better about your life because you will find it is getting better!

Now I'm going to point you to an odd place: a bunch of quotes by Eleanor Roosevelt. Why? You will find that ol' El (as I call her) said a lot of things that really resonate with people who are quitting smoking weed. I don't know why that it is -- but you can't read them without thinking "Damn! She really had it going on!" She's a real master of logical positive thinking.

So -- to sum up: 1) Consciously plan to have a better life; 2) Work on yourself to change your attitudes; 3) Appreciate the natural world around you; 4) Take life one day at a time; 5) Reach out for the help of others: we are always here for you at /r/leaves! We know that you can do this! 8-D