You just can’t see it coming.
This was me.
Before stealing.
Before juvenile court.
Before jail.
Before lawyers.
Before counselors.
Before programs.
Before isolation.
Before suicide attempts.
Before overdoses.
Before tickets.
Before judges.
Before emptiness.
Before probation.
A junior in high school.
-I had just won an award for a photo that I entered into a photography contest.
-In the coming weeks, I would excitedly order my class ring.
-4 months from when this photo was taken I would order my cap and gown &
would complete my A+ volunteer hours required to receive my two free years of community college.
-7 months from when this photo was taken I would be turning in all of my books to my school counselor, choosing to drop all of my classes.
Soon after, I would be kicked out of my family home for repeatedly not respecting or following any rules.
Months after leaving my house, I would be moving on to harder drugs.
How quickly life can change.
Every single choice that we make, is important.
What I casually chalked up to a phase, would change the course of my entire life.
Every unhealthy choice that I made, drove me further and further down into my very own trench.
I chose to experiment with drugs and alcohol, and I really thought that everyone did.
Everyone else seemed to be able to handle their alcohol, and I thought I could handle it too.
Other people were just having fun, yet my fun always seemed a little bit different than theirs.
I couldn’t have foreseen what was to come.
My lifestyle, my choices, the people I chose to let into my life-
it all became something I didn’t recognize anymore.
After a few years of living this way, I became someone else; foreign to myself.
By the time I realized that I had dismantled my entire existence,
it was too late.
No one plans to become addicted to something.
We think it can’t happen to us.
Young people cannot imagine the potential damage & seriousness of ‘experimenting’…
My goal in sharing is to help support #NationalDrug&AlcoholFactsWeek, (#NDAFW ) 2016.
There are ways that we can help our young people, and we can be a part of helping to decrease the chances of them making unhealthy, life-altering, potentially life-threatening choices.
Please click here or here if you would like to learn more!
We can all help in some way.
*And for the record, I wouldn’t change my journey for anything. 🙂
When you know better, you do better and that’s all that you can do!