There’s a line in one of my favorite movies of all time, “Bruce Almighty” where God talks to our Hero and says, “A teenager who says ‘No’ to drugs and ‘Yes’ to education is a miracle.” You must understand how proud I felt watching that scene as a teenager.
Drugs. I’ve never taken drugs except the ones prescribed by Doctors. And I don’t even get sick much. Although, I have to admit I’ve been tempted. Especially the ones that alter reality. In reality though, I just see drugs as something that you need to try for thrills. I don’t believe in the concept of escapism through drugs.
I’ve seen and heard too much about the negative effects of drug abuse on individuals, families and lives to ever be excited about them. (Honestly, I just watched Breaking Bad). I used to find it easy to get angry at people who would ruin their lives and put their families through so much pain for their pleasure. I used to think that they are being so irresponsible and that they had no need to be such bad and selfish people. We all have problems in life and struggle from time to time. To be able to channel your suffering into something useful as supposed to just relying on external stimulants is a skill. That is an attractive quality to have as a person.
For me, any negative emotion that I experience I make sure to create something out of it. Too much anger, run those extra miles and create a better physique. Too much sadness, put those extra chocolate chips in your batter and create better cookies. Create something out of whatever feeling you are trying to numb. This makes you not only forget the problem in hand but also give you a reason as to why you are so much more than the emotion you are experiencing. The sense of accomplishment is 10 times more when you create something whilst going through something difficult.
Having said that, there are two sides to a coin and recreational drugs are now showing promise to cure symptoms of anxiety, depression etc. And now that I’m older, I realize that not all of them have it easy and I feel a lot of empathy to the ones struggling with drug addiction. While I might not be in a position to understand their need to take drugs, I do understand that to not be in such a horrible mental state only means I am privileged than they are. To not need something to escape my reality only means I have a better life than they do.
But the question remains, how far does one go to numb out emotions that make life worth living?
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