4 ms·

I started drinking in 8th grade, moved to marijuana soon after, and did many drugs in high school. I did many stupid things, and graduated with barely a 3.0. I

by seibelj 11y ago

I started drinking in 8th grade, moved to marijuana soon after, and did many drugs in high school. I did many stupid things, and graduated with barely a 3.0. I was a "wild child", and although I was raised by a very intelligent and successful single mother, she said I couldn't be controlled and thought giving me freedom was the best solution for me. In college, I had sort of a "been there, done that" attitude to parties and substances while many of my peers were just starting to experiment. I realized that this was my chance, and if I didn't buckle down and study, I was going to wind up a failure in my own eyes. Would I want what I went through for my own kids? No. In hindsight I would have put more boundaries and controls on myself. But I turned out OK. There's hope for everyone.

id 11y ago
> There's hope for everyone. Except for the hopeless.
sleazebreeze 11y ago
Your's is an interesting story. I'm glad for you that you were able to recognize what was happening and change. I agree that there is hope for everyone. Freedom to create your future is a heavy task, but as a song goes: "the weight is a gift". I had a similarly difficult transition to "adulthood" - mine happened after a vanilla engineering college experience though. After I found out post-college life isn't anything at all what I expected, I went through a period of self-loathing, depression, reckless behavior and substance abuse. Somewhere in the fog, I found a wonderful book about self-compassion and was able to muddle towards a better sense of wholeness. Then, I re-discovered a love for programming and threw myself into that with a renewed sense of direction. A common theme that I've observed in people's stories who were able to "help themselves" was the realization that they are solely responsible for their success in life. Circumstances and other people will aid or obstruct, but ultimately the only thing you can control is your response to external events.

by seibelj 11y ago

id 11y ago

> There's hope for everyone. Except for the hopeless.

sleazebreeze 11y ago

Your's is an interesting story. I'm glad for you that you were able to recognize what was happening and change. I agree that there is hope for everyone. Freedom to create your future is a heavy task, but as a song goes: "the weight is a gift". I had a similarly difficult transition to "adulthood" - mine happened after a vanilla engineering college experience though. After I found out post-college life isn't anything at all what I expected, I went through a period of self-loathing, depression, reckless behavior and substance abuse. Somewhere in the fog, I found a wonderful book about self-compassion and was able to muddle towards a better sense of wholeness. Then, I re-discovered a love for programming and threw myself into that with a renewed sense of direction. A common theme that I've observed in people's stories who were able to "help themselves" was the realization that they are solely responsible for their success in life. Circumstances and other people will aid or obstruct, but ultimately the only thing you can control is your response to external events.