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10 Signs You're a Natural Pothead

From your music taste to your personality type, there are many signs you're a natural pothead, so stick with the plants.

By Fred Eugene ParkPublished 6 years ago 9 min read
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Photo by Inna Lesyk on Unsplash.

Of all the nearly 7 billion people on the earth, no two individuals are precisely identical in every way. While no two people have the same personality, there are certainly a few broader personality types that can classify most people. As is well known, most people associate certain personality traits with cannabis use and general stonerdom. Consequently, some people (and we all know one) can naturally behave as if they are a Bob Marley level stoner without ever touching a bud. Perhaps you have been told that you are such a person. If so, here are some signs you're a natural pothead, without even trying.

You are open to trying new things.

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By and large, most regular pot smokers are exceedingly easygoing and open-minded, often seeking new experiences and other cultures in order to greater understand the world around them. You may find that you enjoy listening to many different types of music, often from many different genres and places in order to enrich your listening experience. Additionally, you may be especially diverse in your tastes in food and beverage, rarely turning away what is offered to you. Your friend group is likely made up of people from various different walks of life, cultures, and political views. An experienced stoner will have a keen ability to recognize the nuance of most situations, and can find commonalities in someone they profoundly disagree with in many ways, preferring to bring people together over creating deeper division. If you find that you are constantly seeking to broaden your horizons in these and other ways, you may be naturally wired for weed.

Real stoners truly believe that you smoke pot.

There is perhaps no better way to know that you have natural stoner chops than being mistaken for a pothead by real potheads. While the average person will call everyone who behaves in a spacey way stoners, only true stoners can really tell. If you find that long-haired dudes, people with strange piercings, dead heads, and other stoner types often gravitate toward you, this is already a pretty good indication. A natural stoner is likely to relate and communicate with those who are stoned without feeling out of place or detached from the conversation, keeping pace and laughing at their jokes. Most likely, pot smokers will feel comfortable being honest around you, where they are typically secretive about their habits with most others. You may even have a friend show you their stash in the middle of English class, (true story) assuming that you will want to partake later on. Once a real stoner has offered you any amount of weed, you ought to suspect that you may be a natural stoner.

You hold a deep appreciation for classic rock.

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As more and more time comes between the present and the 1960s and 70s, younger generations grow up with less and less appreciation for the music of that era. While not everyone who smokes weed enjoys classic rock, it is important to draw the greater connection between the two that is undeniable. As Bill Hicks once pointed out, the Beatles and other classic rock innovators such as The Rolling Stones, The Who, Bob Dylan, and many more shared at least one thing in common, their use of drugs, the most ubiquitous being cannabis. To assert that weed had nothing to do with the development and sound of these artists and their music would be reductive. While these individuals were particularly creative to begin with, one cannot help but notice a dramatic shift in their sounds after discovering weed. If you find that you are at peace or experience euphoria as a result of listening to Abbey Road, Pet Sounds, anything by the Grateful Dead, or any Allman Brothers song longer than 5 minutes, you may be tapping into something that these artists of the ultimate classic rock stoner songs needed drugs to find.

You own vinyl records and or a turntable.

As cliche as this one seems, there are deeper explanations to this. In an era where listening to music has reached the pinnacle of convenience and immediacy, most people are content to take the path of least resistance when playing music. The evolution is staggering when considering that in the last 30 or so years, we have evolved from vinyl records and cassette tapes to compact discs, MP3 downloads, and the present where one can pay to stream music without even downloading it. As such, it is a select few people in the current generation who take interest in vinyl record albums, or have the patience to handle them. One group that has a great deal more patience than the general public is, of course, stoners. While most young people like to jump around on Spotify for a variety of songs, stoners are often more likely to be content listening to an LP record the whole way through or any of the funniest vintage stoner comedy albums, delving into the emotional soundscape or set of the artist. Additionally, stoners are likely to possess the patience to sift through records and place them on the turntable. If you are the sort of person who could vibe out to a record, track by track, without losing interest or excitement, you may be able to hang with the big dogs.

You have a deep appreciation for nature.

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The association between potheads and environmentalism is well established, and runs deep. For a stoner with lots of time on their hands, it is hard to ponder the world and its state of affairs without wondering and thinking about the natural world. When one logs most of their stoner hours in the woods, it is quite nearly impossible to remain unmoved by nature. Often times, college stoners, whenever possible, will find secluded areas in the woods to smoke weed, preferring to be among the relaxed natural beauty of the world rather than a dorm room with a towel under the door and a bag on the smoke alarm. Stoners will often come to explore these wooded areas to amuse themselves, away from the noise and bustle of civilization. If you find that you are at peace in the quiet green beauty of the forest, you were likely born with some sort of stoner gland or something.

You enjoy long-form podcasts and YouTube shows.

While many people of different personality types enjoy listening to podcasts, most people prefer to listen to programs that are relatively consistent in their length and are more or less topic driven. Programs like WTF with Marc Maron, Game Grumps, and others, while not antithetical to stoners, are shorter, more focused, and sometimes episodic; and therefore, palatable to a broader amount of people. When it comes to podcasts like The Joe Rogan Experience, Harmontown, Your Mom's House, and other shows that often run between two and four hours, most people are unable to stay engaged for an entire episode. Furthermore, the average working person in society will often struggle to find several hours to set aside for recreational listening, preferring to spend their stolen moments of free time on other avenues of leisure. If you can enjoy a three hour podcast episode in one sitting, you are exhibiting stoner-like behavior.

You have a knack for free styling.

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We have already discussed multiple facets of a stoner playlist, so it should be no surprise that free styling to rap is a common occurrence in most any smoking circle, and is kind of infectious. While this could be shaken off as a coincidence, it is contextually important to understand the way in which the brain often interacts with weed. When the THC in weed reaches your brain, it typically gums up on your receptors, causing the signals in your brain to take more roundabout paths to operate. Consequently, the thoughts you produce are often a bit more abstract and/or creative, allowing you to make associations that you ordinarily would not; and in turn, considering certain things and concepts on a deeper and more nuanced level with an understanding of less obvious connections and contradictions. In such an inquisitive state of mind, one's inherent creativity is bolstered by the circuitous nature of the stoned mind, allowing the abstract, though often strangely complete (and often philosophical or mantra-like), thoughts, as well as repeating melodies or rhythms, to rise to the focus of your consciousness. If you find that you are a skilled free styler with an overactive, but creative mind, you've earned a spot around the circle, no bud required.

You naturally find yourself mediating disputes.

In the age of such great political and cultural separatism and polarization, the concepts of compromise, respectful disagreement, and diversity of thought are becoming increasingly rare and derided by people on both sides. A regular stoner will often allow themselves to suspend some of the passion they have for a certain topic or perspective to find out why the opposition believes what they do. While it is quite easy to dig in ones' heels in an ideological debate when sober, or even drunk, circumstances change greatly when cannabis is introduced. For most, weed tends to dull aggression, which is often the cause of stubborn viewpoints that transcend objectivity. Because the intellectual function of the brain is greatly diminished in a state of anger, angry people are unlikely to change their opinions or even understand the opposing view. In the mellow state often created by weed, the relaxed mind can often more objectively process matters of discussion or argument by detaching slightly from the emotional implications in order to read the facts or assertions of both perspectives. If you truly believe in reasoned discussion and finding the objective truth in a dispute while trying to strengthen the things that tie us together as people, firstly you should run for office, and you would also find many like-minds among the stoners of America.

You care little for passing fads and all that is trendy.

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While there are also certainly posers and generally shallow people who smoke weed, most true stoners will follow their own path, taking interest only in those things that truly resonate with them and define their personality. Pot smokers usually pay no heed to the changing conventions of fashion, choosing to wear whatever they think looks truly cool to them. Stoners truly allow their personalities to emerge from their clothing, hairstyle, and other groomings, whether this pertains to their style or simple utility and comfort. Being that stoners generally have a disdain for needless discomfort, they will rarely go out of their way to be fashionable by societal standards. True stoners dress in a manner to foster both physical and psychological comfort, a practice that is somehow both personal and practical at once. If you are true to yourself both inside and out, you are definitely at least stoner adjacent.

You play an instrument.

Science has suggested that using one's non-dominant hand with greater frequency can often allow people to unlock and use more of their brain by putting it to use. This effect, while admittedly somewhat different from the normal signs you're a natural pothead, also forces the mind to function more creatively, allowing for new and different thoughts to emerge by forming new neural pathways. While there are a number of ways one could carry out such an exercise, perhaps the most structured, valuable, and gratifying way is to learn and master an instrument. Seeing as not all instruments require a great deal of involvement with both hands, one should look to instruments such as a piano, guitar, or drums where one's hands are required to perform different, but equally important tasks. To master an instrument, one must practice to the point where their rudiments become subconsciously ever-present, or as the musicians say, "muscle memory" is achieved.

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About the Creator

Fred Eugene Park

Fred Park is a writer, singer and guitarist with a deep passion for music, sports and history. Fred graduated from Purchase College in 2016 with a BA in history.

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