For me it’s driving while under the influence. If you couldn’t tell, I like me some ganja. However I have long since held the belief that it is utterly insane to drive while under the influence of most substances, with maybe nicotine and caffeine being the exception. All too often I see other stoners smoking and driving, which I simply can’t fathom. I’ve only operated a vehicle once under the influence and it was just to move a U-Haul around the block to a different parking spot, which was such a scary experience while high that I refuse to even consider getting behind the wheel again while high.
On the point of driving whilst stoned. Confidence comes with experience. It may not be safe, but i used to smoke at a friends house and had to drive home. Originally we would make a point of giving it a few hours after the last joint tbefore i left so i could sober up a bit. As time went on that last smoke got later and later and i still had to leave by a certain time. Eventually this evolved into me smoking a joint whilst driving because it just made no difference (seemingly) to drive sober or stoned.
To your question i would say learning a musical instrument.
I spent years using a basic yamaha keynoard worth about 200 pounds at the time (when i was young) and until i found i was getting good and was joining a band i just used that. Eventually i bought a much more advanced synthesiser for around 700-800 and still have that 15 years later, im only just thinking about getting a replacement. (I had a few random pianos and synths in between and have a full size (basic) electric piano as well)
I worked in a rehearsal/recording studio for a few years and played in bands there and it was amazi g how many times you would see a new band of kids come in who could barely play baa baa black sheep but had spent easily 1500-2000 on their guitars and amps and insisted on bringing the amps and full drum kits to jams despite there being some fairly decent kits and and amps in the rooms already which were better for practice.
Some of them got good, but most of them would try to sell their gear to us before too long.
Im not saying you need to buy a cheap instrument and use it for a decade like me but dont spend 2 grand out of the gate and expect the skill to just fall into your lap.
I can definitely understand what you mean by this, but I think a certain level of confidence also comes from tolerance.
I don’t drive at all, so can’t weigh in on that, but I cycle everywhere, and in my youth I would have never considered cycling while stoned, too risky, too dangerous, not fair or safe to others using the paths.
When I started smoking, I stuck by that statement, I’d give it a full 12+ hours between my last smoke and getting on the bike.
But just like your example, 12 hours became 8 hours, became 4 hours, and so on, where now I might have an smoke and 40 minutes later get on my bike to go somewhere.
But then I take a T break, and I pick up a new bag, and I have my first hit in a month or two, and I sit with that high for a while and think to myself “fuck no, I absolutely will not be getting on the bike any time soon, this tiny toke is too much to cycle on”
Then I’ll smoke heavily for the next month, and by the end of the month, my tolerance has increased, and I’m back to riding my bike while stoned (or rather, buzzed, because I’m just not capable of getting as high)
Do I feel guilty for these decisions because I know it’s a big risk? Yes. Do I keep doing it? Also yes.
But now that I’m in discussions with my doctor about medical dosing, it has raised a very important question - if I use medical marijuana to manage my chronic illness (the one that renders me medically unfit to drive) is the ethical and legal obligation of that treatment plan that I can never ride my bike again? I must always walk or take the bus? The same does not apply for people who use opiate based pain relief or therapeutic ketamine. They are warned not to drive if the meds make them impaired, but ultimately it’s their judgement to decide what is “impaired”. It will only be externally questioned if there is an accident or a near miss. If I am assessing my level of impairment before I ride stoned, how can I best ensure my capacity to ride in those moments?
Also answering OPs question, I think this applies to a lot of hobbies, but I notice it a lot as someone who likes to sew my own clothes - the pressure from others to constantly get better, try harder, and keep building those skills.
I do my hobby because it’s fun, sometimes it’s fun to learn new things about it, but sometimes I just want to stick with what I know and play in my comfort zone.
My dad will often look at things I’ve made this year and say “you made something almost identical 5 years ago, and your stitches are still skew wiff, haven’t you learned to blah blah yet?” because his expectation is that I will get better and better with every passing moment as I practice my hobby.
Similarly, people will tell me that I have “clearly got the skills to make xyz” and I should “challenge” myself. And sometimes I will, but most of the time I retreat to my hobbies because I don’t have to challenge myself if I don’t want to. I like my hobbies to be no pressure (I go to the gym to push myself, I go to my craft corner to relax)
You are allowed to dabble, fool around, play, and have fun with a hobby. You are allowed to decide that “getting better” isn’t the goal.
But it seems others will always question this, or suggest you somehow aren’t doing the hobby right, or enthusiastic enough about it if you’re only ever doing it on a surface level.
Just today, I managed to get hold of a second hand overlocker, I’m really excited to make things with it, and my co-worker who also sews said “oh that’s awesome, the quality of clothes you’re going to pull off now that you can surge! I can’t wait for the fashion show”. She meant that in the most positive way, and I know what she was trying to say so I thanked her and promised her to show her what I was making, but part of me definitely heard “if the quality of your final product doesn’t improve as a result of this, you’re bad at this hobby, now you have no excuse not to be better than you were before” even though she meant nothing of the sort, and a lot of that was internalised shame because of previous discussions with people who were genuinely questioning my lack of improvement.