Rec | REMEMBERING THAT IT'S THE ANTICIPATION NEUROTRANSMITTER

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remembering that it's the anticipation neurotransmitter

not simply the pleasure neurotransmitter. this clicked so hard for me when i realized that my favorite part of smoking weed every single nite was setting up my desk and tray, grinding the weed, rolling the joint, packing the joint, and lighting the joint––not the high itself. realizing that helped me to build alternative habits that had a similar rhythm to them.
this is why those tiktok videos go on forever before getting to the actual point. they're sucking the dopamine from you second by second because you are anticipating the point.
also important: your dopamine cravings get reset overnight meaning the morning is a great time to build good habits and the night time is when you have to either fight the hardest against bad habits OR just give into it because a lotta nites you probly deserve it :D

@haydens

Feb 28, 2024

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@aidanaguirre

former stoner and I feel the anticipation and ritual aspect of dopamine - I was always so ready to partake in the act and feel the feelings of putting it all together to smoke and the build up of feelings would heighten the conclusion vs feeling annoyed/sad and functionally smoking ouf of habit I saw a very …. ill informed graph about ”dopamine culture” recently. some examples it points out include: playing sports -> sports betting, marriage -> dating apps, print media/news -> clickbait or outrage media. it got me thinking very hard about what dopamine’s role in contemporary life is and how much we do or do not give ourselves agency over the choice of self administering it. I do take that graph with a large grain of salt, because it’s a very limiting view of forms of culture/attention and seems haphazard but nonetheless it got me thinking

Feb 28, 2024

@haydens

aidanaguirre i'd say that dopamine's role in contemporary (and technology-centric) life is to increase content engagement time to make money for corporations and that pacing your own production of dopamine with good habits is a way to oppose those forces while also healing yourself from their effects on your body. interestingly the first span of my life where i made significant strides in my screen time (i'm talking 5/6+ hours daily down to like 20-40 mins) was when i was also smoking more weed than i ever had before. it just replaced the dopamine production that i was getting from that technology. so while i took the power away from the corporations making money off the content/ads i was engaging with, i was still in need of that daily dose. not really sure what my point is, ig regulating your dopamine healthily is revolutionary or something? idk

Feb 28, 2024

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it really changed my perspective on exercise because i think physical exercise is wrapped up in 'self-improvement' when in reality it should be seen as self-care. and to bring it back to dancing: this is physical exercise that really connects you with the spirit in you and those around you, something that is undeniably a form of care

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