What is your reason for not doing drugs and drinking?

Question

I would really like to know the reasons for your drug free alchol free lifestyle...

Answer 1

I call it the "Philosophy of winners and losers"

And it goes like THIS.

In ANY human activity on the face of this earth there are good thing that can happen and bad things that can happen to us. In MOST instances there are BOTH good and BAD things that can happen in any one activity.

The degree to which things happen to us is directly related to our control of things that are going on with in the particular activity we wish to participate in.

The winner ALWAYS looks at things from the perspective of "what is the WORST thing that can happen to me of I do this thing" and secondly, "If the worst DOES happen can I afford to pay the price"

The loser takes a completely different approach. He says "what is the up side of this activity I am about to participate in" and THEN sits back and starts to daydream about all of the glory that will be falling on him when "his ship comes in"

Lets take the issue of "doing drugs". By drugs, I do not believe you are talking about the prescription kind, but rather the illegal kind. What is the DOWNSIDE to taking an illegal drug?

Well, there is the impairment to the brain (after ALL wasn't the reason for taking them in the first place to ALTER the brain (and remember, the PURPOSE of the brain is to process thought and make decisions) If, while you under the influence of drugs, your brain makes a MISTAKE in judgment, ARE you capable of paying the price of that mistake? If you take LSD on the 12th floor of a building and your brain makes the decision that it thinks it can fly, CAN you afford such a folly? ARE you willing to pay such a price?

Winners LOOK at that DOWNSIDE and decide that their life is worth more then the momentary illusion of flight that might overcome their brains ability to think rationally.

Looser look at it first as some dare. Attempting to impress their peers that they are not afraid to take the drug. The stupid thing here is that the risk is on YOU not them. All you could POSSIBLY gain would be their amusement (and fodder for some tall tale 20 years from now about the idiot that took LSD and a flight off the 12th story balcony)

Drinking is another form of drugs, with less IMMEDIATE impact on our personal safety AND definitely impacts upon our judgment and reflexes. In some people it makes them COMBATIVE and resistant to advice from friends. Friends on the other hand, do not want to MAKE A SCENE with you so they just let you do what you want to do rather then start a fight. So, here you are wiped out and you get IN your car and go off and kill someone. Not your intention you say? Of COURSE NOT. But WHAT is the eventual and foreseeable outcome of releasing a 4,000 lb car onto the street with rules and OTHER 4,000 cars with only HALF of its control mechanism intact? Not only is it QUITE predictable, but the experiences of the last 70 years on the American roads has been the systematic slaughter of some 15-25,000 lives EVERY YEAR.

Now, with that being the DOWNSIDE to the argument, put in your OWN perceived UPSIDE to the excess use of alcohol
and driving while intoxicated and see how you weigh the balance.

If you see NO great downside to the argument then I say you are a dysfunctional human being and do not deserve to be extended the privilege of driven a car.

Cigarettes are another example. Again an apparently benign drug is involved here. What is the UPSIDE to the use of this drug. Well, some would say it is COOL. Cool to whom. Your brainless friends? then the old adage "be careful who you run with" is good advise. All the while your mind is thinking "Man how cool I must look to her when I am smoking a cigarette". So "sisticated" "debinair" "swave".

But what is the downside of ingesting lungs full of contaminated smoke into a device (your lungs) that is designed to extract only oxygen for the support of your body's life function? Tell us. We ALL want to know.

Look at the statistics. Your bodily functions will diminish (that will SURELY impress her) you will age ad a rate 3 times faster then a non smoker (look at the prematurely wrinkled skin of a life long smoker) and the prognosis for the contraction of lung cancer is 3 times that of a non-smoker. Emphysema is a debilitating lung disease that is KNOWN to be caused by smoking and leads to the eventual LOSS of lung function (drowning to you folks that have never experienced it) and to the more likely possibility of pneumonia is you are afflicted with other diseases.

What IS the UP side to smoking? Tell us.

Now I know what some are thinking, Ahh! I can quite at ANY TIME. Right! Tell that to the old (54 years) lady who testified on the witness stand in a her negligence case against the cigarettes companies. She was SOO hooked that much of her lung was removed, she had throat cancer and she SMOKED a cigarette through a HOLE (literally a tracheotomy) in her throat. Talk about COOL. That was the COOLEST thing anyone EVER saw. But NOT from her point of view. She died before her case 9with all of its appeals) could be resolved.

In the end, it is not about what is cool or what the girls will think about you or even what your friends will say. In the end it is about YOU. How you FEEL about yourself will be the single greatest influence on your decision to takes risks that have NO upside and great downsides.

When I ( a non smoker, non-drinker and non-social risk taker) see someone using these harmful drugs and performing harmful acts, I see a fool pure and simple. I am TOO old to attempt to try to put some social band-aid label on him. To me the person is to be treated without pity. It is HIS decision, his life, and his suffering. Not mine. I can only TELL you the consequences, YOU have to make the conscience decisions as to how your life will be regulated; by your peers and your pleasures, or by your critical thinking abilities.

You can be a winner or a loser in life. It is NOT preordained, except in your own decisions. The really tough part now is...YOU know the difference. What are you going to do about it?

Answer 2

One simple reason, my son. I use to do drink and do drugs and party all night. I started this when I was 13 years old! I don't have a dad, and my mom worked 24/7 to take care of the both us. Needless to say, I was on the wrong path for a long time. When I was 15 I got pregnant and I just got it. What I was doing was so stupid. I didn't know why I was doing all of this and I didn't need to. I got all of my stuff straightened out before my son came. I believe that if I didn't get pregnant with Tristan than I wouldn't be alive today for an overdose or being murdered or some other things. I really do owe my life to him :] That's why I stopped and that's why I don't do anything like that anymore.

Answer 3

1. I'm not a teenager anymore

2. I can do everything better when my mind is clear

3. I don't enjoy being sick or hungover

4. At the end of the day, if I were to spend money on drugs or alcohol I'd have nothing to show for it-- just a buzz or a high that would wear off

5. I'm serious about my career and wouldn't compromise it for something as stupid as a drug arrest or a DUI

And finally...

6. I have a son, who has only me to raise him. He deserves a good role model.

My lifestyle is not alcohol free-- I like good wine and occasionally a margarita, but I don't ever get drunk and stupid.

Answer 4

No hang overs, save money and the biggest is that I got tired of being "that girl". I didn't want to wake up embarrassed and ashamed ever again so I gave it up. I thought I was having so much fun because I was partying so much and had so many "friends" but actually, now that all the fake friends are gone and my life has slowed down, I feel good when I wake up. I have more fun now than ever before and I don't have the black cloud of guilt and shame looming over me anymore. It's a great feeling so I don't think I could ever go back.

Answer 5

I stopped doing drugs and i don't drink as much as i used to in college, maybe a sip here and there every once and while. I choose the lifestyle because i have other things to do and other responsibilities to take care of.

Answer 6

I have never been one to get my good times from a bottle or drugs. When I was in high school, I was almost always the DD. Ppl said that I was like a wet rag bcuz I didn't do what they did. I just want to have everything that life has to offer w/o a substance induced stupor. Really it is enough to watch other ppl act foolish and crazy... I don't have to do it too. My Gma told me something I will never forget... "walk in like a lady and walk out like a lady". Thanks Grammy.

Answer 7

i am proud of my choice to stay drug free. and alcohol free. as a teen in this generation is tough.
im a christian teenager. the bible is my reason for staying drug/alcohol free. i know what it does to people. it turns the into people they and their famlies dont know. they change.
when i was in elementary school, we went through a program called DARE. it teaches us the effects of alcohol and drugs. it really helped me. and i know that in my christian school, i dont face nearly as much temptations as the kids in public school. but we are misunderstood. a lot of people think that we dont see anything that happens in public schools. but the truth is, we do.
drugs and alcohol are a big part in todays society. its saddening to see so many young people turning to drugs to face their problems. but really, that doesnt make them go away. it just makes the people so oblivious to the facts that it temporarily makes the problems go away.
alcohol and drugs are two things i NEVER want to have any part in.

Answer 8

I like to remember what it is I have enjoyed, and not wake up in a blur with a hangover. Too many problems come from drugs and excessive alcohol. I want to keep my job, not be aggressive, .
and enjoy life and remember things.

Answer 9

Being stone broke,
you could be doing 25yrs to life in solitary confinement!
treking in the antartic (no shops or people)
convert to buddhism!

or you could be one of those people who are healthy clear thinking and prosperous who are generally happy in a contented kind of way!

Answer 10

I gave up drinking when I woke up one morning dead.
I gave up drugs when my first kid was born.
I have been clean and sober for 25 years, because I didn't want my kids to do the dumb stuff I did.