Title is a bit much so let me explain.
The world has all kinds of terrible things that the individual can do basically nothing about. Luckily, for most of us it has no direct impact and we are able to ignore the painful reality. But what if you were in a situation where it did impact you? In a way that is part of your everyday. What if for years you are struggling with the internal conflict of “there is nothing I can do about it” and “I can’t continue like this”?
As for the drugs, I specifically mean weed and specifically for the days where I find it too hard to ignore. I find myself thinking that if I get high I will have an easier time ignoring the pain and doing something good like cleaning or working.
Notes:
- Don’t bother with telling me that even the individual has the power to make great changes, I believe it and I’m doing my best, but I am also aware of the fact that this situation will not be changed in my lifetime probably.
- I’m not suicidal, I don’t harm myself and while I can tell that lately I have been using weed too much, I don’t think I am abusing it. I’m logging my usage and I review it weekly, If it get’s out of hand I will know (I think)
- I’m mostly asking about using external stimulation as a form of escapism
- Yes, I need therapy, sadly it is expensive. Yes I am looking for options.
Let’s imagine you do drug for that painful ‘thing happening in your life’ and then something new also painful happens, what would you do? Take even more drugs?
As an ex-addicted I know quite well the seductiveness of substances. And how easy they are to fall back into. They never helped me get better, they just… numbed me down and not even enough to not feel the pain.
What helped me get better, almost instantly, is to decide I should accept the world around me was something like a shithole (and that I too was an asshole) and work my way out from there and not from some wishful thinking about what I would do and how great it would be if those shit that were happening to me and had been for years were not a thing.
It’s humility (I was an absolute turd and i was living a shitty life even if I earned good money, and I most certainly at least partly still am an asshole) and sweat. I literaly started moving my body to get back into shape (I rel-learned to walk, one step at a time painfully for a few weeks/months and nowadays I will gladly walk 10+ miles a day without breaking a sweat)
Edit: published too fast:
Well, that can be true but that should not impact your willingness to get better. I mean, I can’t get back that body of mine I ruined years not caring about it but I can make it work as well as it’s able to. and that’s what I do. I can’t get back all those wasted years either, but I can better use what’s left. and so on.
Hope this helps. Wishing you the best
Thank you.
It might sound arrogant, but I think I’m a good person. I always work towards being better, I work on myself and my environment. I think this is what is eating me up about it. The idea that even though I am doing good and always working to improve, this is just something that is out of my control but also directly affects me.
I accept that this is the world, it is fucked up but it also has all of tgese amazing things in it. Heck, I don’t even think the world had my bad than good in it, but I still can’t handle the bad parts. Weed helps me handle it so that I can continue to do the important things such as working on myself. For example, on a really depressive day I might end up staying in bed for the first 4 hours, while with weed I might get up and clean and shift my mood towards a more hopeful one
Imho, it’s the only thing that should really matter to anyone willing to change. Looking forward, not backward and not judging anyone (including myself) but trying to understand. To me, that’s what ‘getting better’ means.
There are amazing things indeed, and they’re priceless. And we’re lucky to be able to appreciate them.
The thing is that what you call ‘bad things’ are also part of the package. Like all of us not being perfect. Not a single one of us.
Bad things are legit part of the world. They’re not an accident. They’re not an error. Like the shadow goes with the light, you cannot have the good bits without also tasting the shittier ones. No one can.
Like no one can be perfect either. As a matter of fact, I will say that we’re all shitty persons and the difference is in how we teach ourselves (and kids) how to deal with what we are, the good as well as the bad, and how we learn to better control our worst traits (I call that “keeping the animal under leash”).
try to really think what is under your ‘control’ and you will realize it’s not much beside your own thoughts, emotions and reactions to whatever may happen around you.
You did not control being born, nor who your parents are or your friends (working hard enough, you may be lucky to be able to pick your foes). You barely control how you look. You don’t control with whom you (don’t) fall in love. You don’t control the weather or who is deciding what in the rest of the world. You don’t even control if you’re enjoying spinach, or not ;)
None of us control much.
More often than not, the need for control ‘control’ is a way to avoid facing our fear (fear of the other, of the unknown, of the uncertainty and fear of oneself). It’s that fear trying to hide itself behind something seemingly actionable, and therefore so reassuring. Like little kids checking under their beds every night before going to sleep. Cute but also not the most effective way to fight a monster… when there is one.
The day I started welcoming that fear and doubt in my life (and in my head) is the day I started getting bett… less shittier of a person myself. At least I think so ;)
Don’t be afraid to admit you depend on that. I depended on my own addictions back then. Admitting it is the first step to effectively getting rid of it.
Imho, weed is not the issue as I reckon it does to you more or less exactly what you want it do? The issue is you not realizing you could get the same or a very similar result without relying on weed. Which would be cheaper and much healthier choice for you,. A choice without any bad side effect btw.