Drinking and smoking are meant to make us feel lonely!
No matter how much we consider this culture of partying a friend-making scheme, I don’t think it does what it promises. Rather than making friends or “networking,” it brings together folks who are suffering in real life and just want to run away from the real world for a bit. And I totally get where they are coming from because I have been a part of it for some time.
But moving away from it made me realize how full of shit all this is. When we are in the habit, nothing else seems more appetizing and inviting than drinking a few shots or smoking a few cigarettes. I want to remind you what it looks like from the outside. I want to give you the perspective of a person who couldn’t see it then but can clearly see it now.
People start drinking and smoking because it’s cool. You start with one drink; you get drunk and feel good. Then you come back down to earth feeling frustrated. Then you take another drink, feel amazing, and come back down. This happens till one drink feels like nothing. Then you start increasing the number of drinks or cigarettes. The cycle goes on until either you get sick or you don’t have more money to waste on this.
This time the crash is brutal. Because you got so addicted to something and made yourself feel that there is nothing better than this, now you don’t have anything to fall back on. You didn’t spend time on anything else. You didn’t develop a connection with anything but the drinking or smoking. And now you not only feel lonely or depressed, but even your hormones are messed up because of the continuous high that the alcohol and cigarettes gave you.
So basically, you are not ruined in just one area of your life. When you decide to stop, everything, and I mean it, everything will come crashing down. It isn’t the end by any means. It is rather a fresh start. You will be at a place where you have nothing to lose. The only way you can go from here is up. You would have fought the biggest enemy of mankind—addiction.
Until next time, Adios amigo!
Having said all this, I have had a drink or two while I was in college and you can read my experience HERE. It was fun, I am not gonna lie!
