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