The Morning After The Day Before
So here we are, the day after the dopamine started to fire, and I forgot something rather important from the 74 days alcohol cessation back in December: when the dopamine starts to flow again, it’s not yet calibrated. The next day, there’s a price to pay. You would think I’d have remembered that; I even wrote an article about it titled An Old Stoner Like Me (see Below).
Basically, it feels like coming down off a pill the next day because the body doesn't yet know how much to deliver, and invariably, it’s too much to start with. I’ve spent most of the day puzzled as to why I was feeling so low, and I’ve only just remembered. Doh!
The Dilemma
I’ve also been wondering what to fill these Dispatches with now that the fast-moving part of the withdrawal is over. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a 24-month project for a reason, but as we enter Stage Two, we don’t have the same immediate markers. I can’t just keep saying “flat today” or “better yesterday.”
So, when there isn’t much to report, I’m going to tell you how the hell I got here in the first place. I’ll keep the usual insights and thoughts as I continue to “come back online,” but I’ll also share where it all started. Plus, I’ll be including instructions and tips on building your own AI Scaffold. Why wouldn’t you? After 35 years of use, being 170 days alcohol-free and 76 days cannabis-free says it works.
Genesis: The Watford Bridge
It all started around the 10th of October 2025. I had stopped drinking for 12 days after a heavy 14-day binge. Normally I would’ve stopped after the weekend, but I was headed to Watford midweek to see Ricky Gervais with my non-pot-smoking comedian friends: Matt, Tom, and Stephen so I bridged what would normally be a gap.
You should have seen their faces when I pulled out a joint in the Airbnb. You’d have thought I was Pablo Escobar. “Where did you get that?” “Brought it down with me.” “the Joint?” “No, my grinder and grass” “What, through airport security?” “Aye, of course.” Ah the stories I could tell…actually I will as we move forward.
The First Prompt
By the following Sunday, I felt miserable and decided that was it for the alcohol. It wasn’t difficult because I was used to stopping before the week started and I still had the cannabis, but twelve days later, I was still feeling terrible. I couldn’t figure it out. I’d been off the booze “for ages,” so why the gloom? So I opened DeepSeek, my AI of choice (I’d tested a few with politics etc and DeepSeek seemed to be the most balanced and was always open for a good debate) and simply typed: “What to expect, good or bad, 12 days after stopping drinking”... To be continued.
#cannabiswithdrawaltimeline #neuroplasticity #brainrepair #systemsthinking #AIsymbiosis