| If you use drugs and alcohol, you have | | | | happen to be, it is even more so if you |
| probably heard quite a few "scare | | | | are relatively young. For example, if |
| stories." You may have read, or heard | | | | you are twenty years old, it is not |
| from well-intentioned people, that you | | | | likely that you have spent much time |
| will either die or end up incarcerated. | | | | looking twenty or thirty years into your |
| Perhaps you have believed these warnings | | | | future. What do you want your life to be |
| or perhaps not, but most likely you have | | | | like when you are forty-five or fifty |
| not placed a lot of faith in their | | | | years of age? What do you think it will |
| accuracy and shrugged it all off. | | | | be like? |
| However you have seen these warnings, | | | | If you are in the majority-- those who |
| there are two main problems associated | | | | indulge in recreational drug and alcohol |
| with dismissing them-- one is that those | | | | use for years or decades-- do not waste |
| dramatic ends can happen as a result of | | | | your time making too many plans. Don't |
| using drugs and alcohol; but the other | | | | put too much stock in ideas such as a |
| is that more often than not, they don't. | | | | comfortable, happy family life, a |
| If this adds to your confusion, it need | | | | promising career, or excelling at |
| not. The truth is that many people do | | | | whatever current interest you love the |
| die as a result of drugs and alcohol, | | | | most. In time, the importance of all of |
| including overdoses and accidents while | | | | those things will vanish. Your |
| under-the-influence; the truth is that | | | | motivation and even your desire to |
| many people end up incarcerated due to | | | | attain them will vanish. Your body, |
| drug and alcohol use, from everything | | | | mind, and emotions will become sluggish, |
| from driving while intoxicated to | | | | caring less and less about it all. |
| possession of illegal substances to | | | | These days, there are plenty of people |
| other crimes. | | | | who, years and decades past, were |
| However, many do not. Many people use | | | | exactly like you! They had dreams and |
| alcohol and a variety of drugs without | | | | goals-- but allowed drugs and alcohol to |
| ever getting arrested, and without | | | | get in the way. They are the majority of |
| becoming a tragic fatality. Many people | | | | the past's drug users-- perhaps they too |
| indulge in "recreational" drug use and | | | | once looked forward to lives and |
| alcohol abuse for years or decades | | | | futures, but when they allowed drugs and |
| without finding themselves amongst those | | | | alcohol to become the number-one |
| statistics. | | | | priority, they became today's |
| You, perhaps, may be one of those people | | | | middle-aged generation whose lives |
| who could smoke pot and get drunk on a | | | | consist of little but sitting in one |
| regular basis for twenty years! If this | | | | 12-Step Meeting after another, talking |
| prospect sounds appealing to you, | | | | about the past, quite unsure that it was |
| however, it may be beneficial to you to | | | | the drug and alcohol use that got them |
| take a look at people who have done | | | | to where they are today. Tell yourself |
| exactly that. | | | | that you want more from life-- tell |
| While this is a very important point | | | | yourself that you deserve better! |
| regardless of what your current age may | | | | |