Hi, welcome to the You Can Quit Smoking podcast, where we go over stories of success with overcoming smoking addiction. Many people have moved through this radical transformation and use smoking as an opportunity for inner growth, with deeper self-awareness and a greater capacity for compassion. So many have done it and you can quit smoking, too. I'm your host, Jessi Hartnett, founder of Honor Your Heart.

Jessi:

Hey everyone, welcome back. I'm here today with William Quick. William, can you introduce yourself?


William:

Hello, my name is William Quick. I am from Mississippi. It's where I currently reside. I'm 29 years old.


I enjoy social media marketing. That's what I do for work. I'm a copywriter overall. Just a very creative individual.


And I have been overly excited for this podcast just to kind of share my story and to uh help others out there that may be in a similar situation.


Jessi:

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being here. I'm excited to hear your story, too. And I know you have wisdom to share and insights. And I just love to hear more about it. So, what's your story with smoking?


William:

So, my story with smoking starts when I initially graduated high school back in 2014. The very first time that I ever smoked cannabis was with my actually closest friend. We're still friends to this day. We've been friends for sixteen or seventeen years now.


He used cannabis before I did. I was over his house one day. And just us being in proximity and being so close obviously, I was going to try it. And I did and it was actually a really great experience.


Sometimes I hear horror stories about people's experiences in regards to using cannabis, but for me it was actually really good. I didn't get super super high or have a bad time. It was very mild.


I felt lighter. I felt freer in a sense. My inhibitions were lowered and things were very simple. Just wanted to kind of hang out, be outside. And it was great weather that time of the year. And we were just enjoying each other's company, just being boys.


So that was sort of my introduction into it. And from time to time, I would use cannabis just by going over to his house. It was fine. Never really had any issues.


And then maybe a year or so later, my older brother and his significant other, I found out that they partook in cannabis. And going over to their home and just hanging out with them, he would offer it to me. Obviously being a family member and they're doing it, I partook in it.


It wasn't a consistent thing by any means. It maybe was three times out of the month that I would use cannabis. Both with my closest friend as well as the period with my older brother and his significant other.


And we would just enjoy the weekend. Or we would smoke and watch a movie, get something to eat, and just be around each other, just kind of fellowship. Sometimes we would have game nights and friends would come over and cannabis would be a part of it.


So, my introduction into it was actually one that was ideal, I would say, in comparison to some of the stories that I've heard. But it definitely took a turn. I don't want to say for the worst, but it just took a turn when I was 22 years old. I believe it was 2018.


I had previously gone through a breakup with the mother of my son. We were together for 7 years. And you know, for someone that's 29, that's a pretty big chunk of your life being with someone. We parted. I think my son's age was two, almost three.


And I had just moved out of the place that her and I had together. I got my own place. I went from having my family, so to speak, to just kind of being alone the majority of the time. Obviously I would see my son and he would come over. But it was a pretty drastic change from being with someone every single day, having your son with you every single day to it just being me. Just being me and the walls around me.


I worked and I did enjoy my job at the time. I was still doing creative things like photography and videography. That's what I was getting into. And my brother and I, we currently run a media business. And this was the beginning stages of it around this time frame.


So, we had a job to film. I believe it was a pageant at Old Miss, which was in Oxford, Mississippi. And we went there and we came back again. I had only been living by myself a few months. And he went and got some cannabis, him and his significant other, like right when we had gotten back after he had dropped me off at my apartment. And I had told him, "Hey, let me get some."


Because being alone and going through I was going through, I had some insecurities and it was just new territory. I had never been in a situation like this before with these types of emotions. And I thought that cannabis may be helpful. I remember how good it felt the times before that I did it and I was like, "Hey, why don't I try that now?"


So, he did. He brought me just a small portion, nothing major at all. I just remember distinctly from then on out it was like it replaced my significant other. It literally connected with me at a time in my life where I needed something.


Perhaps, looking back in retrospect, maybe I needed someone and didn't really know how to articulate that. Or didn't really know how to reach out to people because of the trauma that I had gone through and how I was feeling at that time. But cannabis served that purpose for me. It made me feel whole again.


And this is one of the reasons why I always say I'm not against cannabis by any means because I do know what it can do for people, even in a recreational sense. But the initial start of my consistency with it on a daily basis, it was still fine. I felt great. The stresses that I was going through, the worries that I had, it really took the edge off of a lot of them for sure. And that was March of 2018.


So, ironically enough, as I started to use cannabis more and more, I started to uncover people in my life that used it that I didn't know when I didn't use it. So there were people at my job that I was like, “Oh you use cannabis? Okay. Yeah, so do I.”


So it became this community that I started to feel a part of and I started to hang out with these people more. Great people for sure. You know they were actually really good friends. They just used cannabis too. So it seemed it made the most sense.


So through them I made connections with people that deal cannabis. And my cannabis community grew to a certain degree because of you know my interactions with them. I would go over to their house. I would go to my brother's house. My closest friend that I mentioned earlier, he still used cannabis.


My world started to become slowly but surely consumed by cannabis as soon as I introduced it to myself. Prior, I had no clue these people use cannabis. Anybody around me, I just wasn't privy to cannabis use at all.


But as soon as I started to introduce it to myself on a consistent basis, it's like literally the wool was just pulled away from my eyes and I'm like, "Wow, it is everywhere. Everywhere I turn, somebody's using it. I smell it. It's everywhere.”


Fast forward a year later. I actually ended up going to stay with my older brother. Because I was just going through some things at the time. And I felt as though it would be ideal for me and my son when he was with me to have more than just me around. It was family. It was my older brother, his significant other. My mother was very close in terms of proximity to us at the time. So, it was just more of a family vibe.


Looking back on it, I think I was just trying to replace what I felt as though I had lost. But again, cannabis was still there. Like I said, they used it and me coming and living with them, it just amplified things to a degree to where it’s, “Oh, it's three adults that use cannabis.” Like, “Hey, it's just something that we all have in common.”


Throughout that period, I really didn't notice any type of drawbacks from it in terms of my life experience. I knew that I didn't want to be without it. But I didn't really notice, “Hey, this is hindering you in certain ways.” Or, “This really isn't something that is benefiting me.”


It was just normal. It was like, “Man, I can't wait to smoke. I can't wait to get off work and I know exactly what I'm going to do as soon as I get home.” Long shifts, you would smoke before and then go in high. You may sober up for a little bit and then I'd get off work. And when I‘d smoke again, when I got off, it was like just this rejuvenation feeling.


When I think back on those times now, I realized that I was just under a lot of stress that I wasn't properly dealing with. So, cannabis became that thing that allowed me to deal with it. But what it was actually doing was it was actually just keeping me stagnant. It was keeping me not dealing with it properly.


It was kind of keeping me just at a place where I guess I could manage the stress. I knew that if something arose that was making me feel down or going through things with my son's mom, whatever it was, I knew I had cannabis to take the edge off and to shift my consciousness about that particular thing.


The years just kind of progressed. Still the same habits, daily smoking, different methods. I started to become a lot more artistic, ironically enough, which a lot of people say that the cannabis does help them in that regard.


I don't do it as much now, but I used to dance a lot. Like, I was addicted to it. I made dancing content, social media. I was into it a lot in high school and then I kind of backed away. But when I found cannabis, it opened up that portion of my existence to a sense.


And I fell back in love with that art because it made me feel honestly in hindsight, it made me feel in control. You know, it was an experience that I could have that made me feel powerful during a time that I felt so powerless and weak because of the stresses in life that I was going through.


And cannabis essentially amplified it because that was the first thing that I wanted to do as soon as I used cannabis. I wanted to listen to my music. I'm a huge music lover, huge playlist, and I wanted to move. I was, which I still am obsessed with practicing yoga. That played a part in it as well.


I became a version of myself that, I don't want to use any derogatory terms, but it was kind of like a hippie type version. I was super deep into spiritual science and metaphysics and consciousness and practicing yoga and learning all types of different philosophies and learning about culture and dancing. And I was having all of these different realizations and these different experiences.


My world was feeling more connected because of the people that was in it that were artists and creatives and the connections that I would make, the things that I would create. I felt as though, “Oh, this is who I am. I found myself after so long. I've been wanting to get to this, but I couldn't because I was a young guy in a committed relationship that had a child early and I couldn't be this person.”


And I lived that guy for a good while, for years. Up until 2024, I was that guy. I was very much so in that mold. But what started to happen was around the 2023 to 2024 time frame with a lot of the information that I was consuming.


A lot of the information and the rhetoric that I was feeding myself that once liberated me was starting to shackle me. It was starting to craft my reality into one that was hatefueled, was making instances in my life happen that probably wouldn't have happened had I not had this thought process.


And just to give some context, I came into more consciousness in regards to my history as being a melanated black man. I started to go down the rabbit holes of learning history, learning about the relationship between African people or African-American people and the other cultures of the world. I was learning about civil rights, learning about slavery, learning about how melanated people's ties are to the metaphysical world and all these different things.


And through all of that knowledge grew a hatred for people in general that didn't understand these things and people that I felt as though that were at fault for why the world is how it was and why my life was how it was. And it's like the old saying, “Hatred is an emotion that only ruins the container that it's in, nothing else.” I lived that to a tee.


I thought that I was illuminating myself and I was becoming cognizant of a message and ideas that so many other people couldn't see. I was like, “Why am I the only person in my family that cared to learn black history? Why am I the only person in my family that cares about this stuff?”


Just on this ego trip. I thought that I just knew all this knowledge and I knew all this stuff and this is what I meant to do. And I knew there was always something different about me.


Lo and behold, cannabis was fueling that mindset because it was keeping me in a certain consciousness that wasn't allowing me to learn about something and then grow from it. It was just making me ruminate on it. So, my consciousness couldn't change.


I would get high and get back into those same thought patterns and those same thought processes. I’d practice those same habits, which was going and listening to lectures and doing all these things that essentially just kept me in that same consciousness.


So, my mind never could really grow. It could never really heal. It was just stuck in that one place. But ultimately, it was because I was hurt. I was stressed going through things. And I found this concoction that made sense of that.


Toward the end of 2023, 2024, my life took a turn where things were happening that I just couldn't explain. Like, “How come however hard I try, I just don't seem to be able to get ahead? No matter what I do, I'm continuously being confronted with negative experiences and things that ultimately prove my perspective right.”


And toward the end of 2024, I started to physically become ill to a certain extent, which it ultimately, I believe, was just mental. It was me dealing with anxiety and things of this nature. And I was going through certain situations that caused me to spiral in a sense and just start to have more anxiety issues.


And it had gotten really, really bad. Like it was about a month period where things were really bad. And that was a completely different version of myself that I hadn't ever really experienced. I felt so mentally weak and disconnected. I reached a point where I wasn't getting better. I was literally on the couch from sun up to sun down.


My job that I had at that time, which was the automotive photographer, I was losing clients, having bad experiences at dealerships, and my life was just taking a turn that I didn't feel like I was driving. At that point, I ended up getting closer with my mother because she was a huge help to me during that period. And I actually went to stay with her during this period.


And for some reason, I had just had this pull to essentially let go of everything that I had attached to myself or that I had become. I don't know what it was. I know for a while I did think about letting go of cannabis or it was annoying.


I couldn't get a hold of whoever had it that I could buy it from. And I was just like, “Maybe I should just try and not smoke for a while.” But that never really worked out. I always was able to figure it out: something, somehow, someway.


But it was this period of my life where nothing was right. It seemed like everything was against my intentions. And going to stay with my mother, changing my environment, and making it a point that, “I'm going to get better. I'm going to heal myself.” I said, “No more.”


I trashed all of the spiritual things that I had collected and the practices that I had and the energies that I was showing attention. I trashed all of my cannabis paraphernalia and just everything that was associated with that version of myself. And I said, "I'm going to get sober. I have to because I am ill. I'm not well mentally, physically, I don't feel well. I'm just not well."


Jessi at midroll:

I hope today's story is giving you exactly what you need to hear right now. If you are finding value in these conversations, I have a small favor to ask that makes a massive impact.

Could you take just a couple of minutes to rate the show and leave a quick review on whatever app you are using to listen?

When you leave a five star rating or a kind word, it tells the podcast platforms that this content is helpful. That means they are more likely to show it to someone else who might be sitting in their car or on their porch right now, feeling like they are the only person who can't figure out how to quit.

Your review is the evidence they need to see that it is possible. Thank you so much for helping us grow this community. Now, let's get back to the episode.



William:

That was a very rough period because coming off of cannabis by far was one of the hardest things that I've had to do. Because of how much it was integrated into my life and the identity that I had built with it. And every single day was a battle. You can talk to my mother and she will tell you it was.


From the time I got up: being dizzy, dealing with people and being snappy, not wanting to eat. Just a myriad of problems all from just not having this little plant. The withdrawals were terrible. My mood was terrible.


As the days progressed though, I did start to gain a little bit more hope. Because I did things like download an app that tracked my days to kind of keep me accountable and make me actually feel like I could visually see a representation of what I was doing.


And before I knew it, it was a weekend or I remember distinctly Christmas Day of 2024 marked three days. And I was just blown away. I was like, “Who am I?” Literally like, “I haven't smoked cannabis in 3 days. Like this is insane.” And before I knew it, a month came and then two months.


And by and large all the way to 6 months, I wasn't completely how I would describe right. I think back to experiences that I had during my first six months of being completely sober, of cannabis, of alcohol. And I think about some of the decisions that I made and I know it was because my body and my mind was still recalibrating.


Being the age that I am and then using cannabis for that amount of time, seven years, you aren't going to be right within the first 3 months. You aren't going to be right within the first six months. My brain wasn't even fully finished developing when I had started using cannabis. So, I can't expect myself to automatically know who and what I am being sober.


It was a bit of a battle. But I would say on the other side of six to eight months, I did start to regain an identity. I did start to actually fall into a bit of who it is that I feel like I really am. A


When I reached that year mark this past December, I looked up and I was like, “I like who I am. Where did this come from? I have a whole new set of habits and goals and I have aspirations. And I have a new career that I had started building that I was a success in.” I was like, “What is going on? This is different.”


And that's what sparked the idea, “I should just get on TikTok and talk about just ultimately what I had gone through because maybe it could help somebody.” You know, I've always wanted to do that. I've always wanted to share my story in some sense that even if it could help one person, that's justification enough.


And once I did that, I just became addicted almost. I was like, "This is great. This feels awesome to be able to talk to a community of people that are going through similar things that I had gone through and they're wanting help.” Like, “Hey, does this get better?" Or, you know, “I've been thinking about doing it for, you know, this amount of time and this video made me start. I'm on day one now.”


Just all these things. And I was seeing, “Wow, this is actually beneficial to people.” I'm not perfect. I don't have the perfect life. I don't have a super fancy setup. A lot of my videos, I'm just in my car. But people were resonating with it. And regardless of likes or anything, it made me feel good to know that people actually are wanting to hear what they can do to help them through this period because I was there.


I was there for a while wanting to quit cannabis, but I did not know how. And to find someone online that maybe you resonate with because of the way that they talk or with the way that they look. I know how that feels because I've done it in other areas of life. And I just felt like I had something to share for the people that maybe I could be that for them.


It's ever since been something that's like practically every day I'll make a TikTok or two. And it doesn't feel forced. It doesn't feel like I have to do this. It's like, “Wow this feels good. This makes what I went through worth it in a sense.”


Because people are pouring their heart out, talking about experiences. There was one individual that his mom passed and he had quit cannabis. And he hadn't had a dream in years. Well, as soon as he quit, he started dreaming and it was about his mother and he just started to go through essentially a healing process. And I was like, "Yeah, that can happen. Because a lot of the time cannabis can help you repress emotions. It can help you escape from things.”


And cannabis is so mainstream. It's all throughout certain music genres. Dispensaries are popping up all over the place. It makes people feel like I'm crazy for not smoking. But the reality of it is unless you actually need it on a medical level, if you're just recreationally smoking, I found out that it does more harm than good.


I felt like kind of a nerd at first. Like, “Wow, you were a heavy smoker and now you're like, you don't need to smoke cannabis. Like, what?” But it clicked. I'm like, “No, I've lived this. I'm a living proof.”


I’m a very creative individual. I would say an astute individual because I still love to learn. And I realized like, “Hey, it's not for everybody all the time. You know, it's just not.” Your life may be calling for something completely different and you may not have the tools to stop doing that particular habit.


So I want to be a voice for people during that period of their time that tells them, “It's okay and this is how you do it.” Because not everybody gets to feel like that. Not everybody gets to feel like that at all. So I just wanted to be something for people in that regard at this phase in my journey in regard to cannabis.


Jessi:

Well, I appreciate that work so much. It really does shine through, your authenticity. And people, they want to see that. They want to see the hard times and to have that vision of what could be for them. I think you're an awesome example of that.


I just want to say thank you so much for sharing your story. There's a lot of raw honesty in there. One thing that really stuck out to me was the amount of compassion that you have for yourself when you look back and you talk about those older versions of you in places where you weren't happy.


A lot of us can get stuck in regret or kind of knock ourselves down. Or just pretend that part didn't exist and just want to move on. So, I thought that was really impressive how you have compassion for yourself. You're like, "Hey, I was using this for stress. I was in a bad place. And I thought it could help me.”


And looking at that way is just so empowering because then you're lifting yourself up. You're understanding yourself. And how you were able to give yourself grace when you were having a hard time getting off of it, feeling back right again and saying like, "Yeah, this is going to take some time."


Because so many of us, we want to change overnight. And we get frustrated with ourselves like, "Come on already." And can kind of have that negative self-talk. So, do you feel like positive self-talk served you in a way? Were there times where you'd find yourself going to that negative side or is just who you are? You lift yourself up in that way.


William:

I would say I have always had a tendency to kind of lift myself up on a personal level. But I think it subsequently comes from also being able to be my worst critic. I've always said, “No one can make me feel as bad as I can make myself feel.” So, you know, inversely, “No one can make myself feel as good as I can make myself feel.”


And that may sound toxic to a degree. But in an instance like letting go of a habit like using cannabis that wasn't serving me, being able to look back on things in that regard definitely helped me. Because I was able to give myself grace. I was able to understand myself on a deeper level.


Like, “You weren't just doing this just because, you know, think about why you were doing it. Think about where that was spawning from.” Because to a certain degree, I do trust myself at these different phases that just may have been a little misguided.


Jessi:

Absolutely. And has that thought process helped you find your needs and meet them in a better way than smoking was doing for you? Like if you're curious like “Why?” And you're going down that pattern, were you able to by uncovering that find new ways to meet those needs?


Because that was my own experience. It wasn't until I really got to the why and was able to see like, “Oh this is a normal desire. It's just like I need to find ways to relax. So that doesn't make me a bad person. I just need to find new ways to relax.”


That really helped me move forward because the negative self-talk just kept me stuck. And when I was in that place, that mindset, you want to reach for the old thing for comfort. So it really is about changing that pattern for me and I'm wondering what your experience was like with that.


William:

Yeah, it was definitely similar. There were plenty of times where it felt odd not using cannabis. Because I was so used to certain pockets in my daily life picking it up and gaining that dopamine from it.


I realized it wasn't the cannabis itself. It was more so the consciousness that I had gained from the cannabis. I had become addicted to that person. I had become addicted to those thoughts and the abilities that I felt using cannabis gave me.


But once I was able to replace those instances with just understanding, “This is not me anymore.” It was almost as if I had gained new abilities. It was almost as if the true version of myself was actually able to surface.


And I was able to realize like, “Oh, I didn't need it at all.” In fact, I like life better because I don't feel like I'm on a time clock. Like, “My high's running down. Not going to really be this person to a certain degree anymore because I'm going to have to go and do this thing.” Or I can't enjoy a full hour and a half movie because 45 minutes in I have to go and smoke.


I enjoyed it more because I felt as though I had become empowered. I felt as though I had gained a superpower. Like, “Wow, I don't need something anymore.” I could just be me. And when that moment hit, it was incredible.


And I looked up and I was that version of myself as an adult. Because that had never happened. At 22, you're still a kid. You don't know your right from your left. And at 28, you're a man. You know what I mean? You become a man or an adult and it's like, “God, how am I going to do this?”


So, it definitely helped a lot having that mindset and learning what I was actually wanting as opposed to the cannabis.


Jessi:

That's beautifully said. I think that's so funny how we get caught in that cycle where it's like, “I need this thing outside of me to be me.” It doesn’t make sense. But it can be scary to let go of those identities.


William:

Very.


Jessi:

So, I think that's incredible that you were able to do that work and with such intention.


William:

Thank you.


Jessi:

Yeah. I'm just kind of wondering about some of those pieces that you had so much throughout. I'm curious about the connection piece.


So, you said that smoking was a way to connect with people, even with family. I know what that's like, too. And I'm wondering, well, I guess I can already know. Because you were talking about these connections that you're making online by helping people. But I'm wondering, what's changed with connection and not smoking anymore for you?


William:

Well, it's definitely made me more genuine. Before when I used cannabis, regardless of who I met and what medium I met them on, there was this wall in between me and the other individual. And I didn't realize that until after I had become sober.


Because I realized how much more genuine connections feel now and how much more empathetic I can be toward people. And probably most importantly, the lack of, as I mentioned before, just disdain that I have now. I held prejudices during that time in my life that were programmed and that hindered me more than they helped me.


But as soon as I let go of cannabis, it's so ironic. People say they smoke and they're so calm and cool with everybody and all this stuff. Well, it was the exact opposite with me. When I got sober, that's when I had so much more forgiveness and grace for other people.


And I could connect with people on a deeper level and would understand, “That person may just be upset because of this. It's not me. We don't know what's going on with them.” You know what I mean? Like, I was just able to think a lot more deeper in regards to relationship and connection and be a lot more forgiving as opposed to when I was using cannabis.


When I was using cannabis, it was hard and fast with folks. “Tssk, you know why they like that?” Just all of these things that were not conducive to a happy and harmonious life. And it's so ironic because the programming is if you smoke cannabis or if you drink, you'll be more likable. You'll be more chill and all this stuff.


Well, not for William. It brought out a version of myself that I don't want to be at all. At all.


Jessi:

Same. Same. You're helping me reflect a little bit more here, too. I definitely noticed my stress level go down. But I think that I was more angry at everyone as a smoker. [laughter]


William:

[laughter] Yeah. Mhm. It's odd how it works, but that was definitely the case.



Jessi:

Yeah, I guess maybe it has a lot more to do with the relationship with myself; that's kind of like a foundation.


William:

I would agree. I would agree that it is for me as well. That's profoundly put because how you treat yourself is ultimately how you're going to treat and see others. So, yeah, I would agree.


Jessi:

So, you've listed a lot of gains, but I'm just wondering if you picked one, what's probably the biggest gain that you've gotten from moving on from smoking?


William:

The biggest would probably be just love for myself. And I don't want to sound self-absorbed by any means. But I feel like I have a much healthier love for myself.


I remember at times when I used cannabis and when I drank, I would look in the mirror. And on a subconscious level, I would almost hear a voice saying, "I hate myself." I distinctly remember times where this would happen.


And I thought I loved who I was, having the abilities and enjoying dancing and the communities that I was in and just that whole lifestyle. I thought I loved who I was. But it wasn't until I was able to prove to myself that I didn't need this thing and I was able to craft a life that I genuinely enjoy and that is conducive to not only myself but for my son, for my brother, for my other family members.


Being able to show up for them and get my mind right as a young man and get my priorities in order; all of that came off of letting go of cannabis. Because I was not that individual while under the influence of it. So I was definitely able to gain just the overall love for myself.


And I would say for the first time in my life because I never really knew myself. You know I went from being a young teenager living with my mother and my brother. I had a great relationship with my father. And I was in a relationship with my son's mom from a young age.


So I knew her and I and then I knew me and cannabis. I never really got to know William as a completely sober-minded man. This was the first time within this last year that that happened. And lo and behold, I actually love myself.


You know, I continually say that in today's time, I feel like that's not something to be taken lightly given so much that happens and things that people go through that makes them not love themselves.


But I love myself for sure to a degree to where I want to help other people however I can. Honestly, even if it's just a word of encouragement. That's definitely probably the biggest thing that has come from it.


Jessi:

That's a huge one. It's not something that comes easy, but it's something that can change your life in every way.


And so offering those words of encouragement to someone, let's say somebody's in it right now. They want to quit. They're in that place that you were. Maybe they've tried to quit and not been successful. They've come back and they're not feeling great about themselves. They're not feeling great about the effort. What words of advice would you give to them?


William:

I would tell them to first have grace for yourself and be proud of yourself for where you're at because being aware enough to have the desire to stop doing something that you feel like is not serving you, you're over halfway there in my opinion.


So many people, regardless of what it is, want to have a different result in their life. But they struggle to implement the things that are going to bring that about. Whether that be their thoughts or or their actions, whatever it may be, they struggle to do this. So for an individual that is actually at that point, just know that you're a lot closer than what you think you are.


And know that regardless of what you may face during this process, you can do it. And it is the one thing that I can assure a person with all of my being that you will not regret it. It is the one decision you will not regret.


Regardless of how good using cannabis may make you feel or you may think you feel, you will not feel as good as you are not using cannabis. There's no comparison. Not needing it, there's no comparison.


So I would just tell that person just to have grace for themselves, have patience for themselves, and understand that this is a process. It's not going to happen quickly, but once you start that journey and you get over the initial hump, you will thank yourself every day for making that choice.


Jessi:

I love that wise words. So, how can people get in touch with you?


William:

You can get in touch with me on Tik Tok @iamwillquick and on Instagram @throneofwill. Those are the two social medias that I'm on for the most part.


And anytime someone needs any type of advice or wants to talk, I'm always there.


Jessi:

Thank you so much for coming on, for sharing your story. I really appreciate your openness with it and I know that it's helping so many others. You really are an example of how you can do it.


And I think that people can really connect with the hard parts and the good parts like looking forward to self- love. I mean there's nothing more amazing in life than that. So just thank you so much for coming on here and I really appreciate you.


William:

Absolutely. Absolutely. And I appreciate you as well. This is it's beautiful what you're doing. I know this helps a lot of people. And you should feel very, very proud of yourself, in my opinion, for doing something like this. Because this is a huge work, very special work. So, thank you.


Jessi:

It lights me up. I love doing it. Love these conversations and love connecting.


So, thank you again for being here and I'll see you guys next week. Take care

End of Interview

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