If you have kids, please share this with them….It is real, it is to the point, and it “CAN” happen!!!! Also, I will ask that you share this on your wall in hopes that it reaches just one person who needs to hear it!
I never thought it would happen to me. I have heard it so many times!! I heard it from my health teacher in elementary school, I heard it from my teachers and counselors in middle school, and in my teens, I heard it from family, friends, teachers, principals, and they even brought in speakers to speak to us, and I didn’t listen. I never in a million years thought that the fun I was having drinking alcohol and smoking some weed once in a while, would ever lead to 28 years of alcoholism and addiction and my naïve way of thinking, almost cost me everything, including my life!!!
I will fast forward through the boring stuff and get to the reality of where the “first” one got me. I was in middle school and my thought of a good time was drinking in the woods with my friends or smoking an occasional joint with them. I wasn’t hurting anyone and in my eyes, I was doing nothing wrong and at that time in my life, it was the right thing to do. I mean, what was wrong with a few beers or drinks, right? What was wrong with smoking a little weed once and a while, right? Sadly, as a teenager and against what everyone has told me, I was drinking way too much and it started consuming me. As a middle schooler, my grades were falling, trouble started to started to settle in, and the fights with my mother that ensued from my drinking were becoming plentiful.
Why couldn’t I see that alcohol was taking over my life?
Why didn’t I just open my mind to the people who “truly” cared about me and listen to them?
Why? Because to me at that point of my life, everyone was a friggin joke!!! I wanted them all to shut up and leave me alone! I KNEW MORE THAN THEM, I WAS BETTER THAN THEM AND DRUGS AND ALCOHOL WERE NOT CONSUMING ME!!!!!!!! WILL EVERYONE JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!!
After eighth grade, I ended up going to summer school because my grades fell to an all-time low. My hockey was suffering, I was now getting into trouble with the police, and I was always drunk. Hmmm, why, at this point in my life, could I not just put two and two together and realize that it was the booze and the weed that was making me lose everything!!!! Why?? Because I was a naïve little boy who didn’t care about anything!!!!!!
I entered high school and my drinking was out of control. I am now a 14 year “know it all” and I do not have a problem with alcohol, so I thought. I am getting into fights, failing classes, and my mother, my poor mother is about to give up on me. All she wanted me to do was just be a “normal” kid and be a good student and sadly and unbeknownst to me at this time, I was blinded by alcohol and could not see the pain I was causing her.
All of my bad behaviors are a direct result of drinking. My bad grades, my fights, my abuse to my mother, my hockey play, and me failing life, was all a direct result of alcohol!!!!!
Why did I do that???
Why did I waste my time drinking and smoking weed?
How did something that I once thought to be fun, now start controlling me instead of me controlling it??
I am now a senior in high school and I am an alcoholic and did not even know it. I am losing everything and cannot even see the devastation that my bad choices and destructive behaviors are causing.
Why did I not listen to people?
Why couldn’t I see what I was doing was causing harm on so many levels??
Why?? Because I was a kid and kids don’t listen!! We think we have life by the balls and are indestructible, that’s why. As a senior in high school, I got kicked off my high school hockey team and got introduced to cocaine. I became a cocaine addict and remained an addict and alcoholic until I was 38 years old when I finally put it all down and began my journey of recovery!! THIS ALL HAPPENED BECAUSE I DID NOT LISTEN AND I THOUGHT I WAS HAVING FUN WHEN IN REALITY, ALL I WAS DOING WAS HURTING MYSELF AND THE PEOPLE THAT LOVED ME!!!!!!! I NEVER THOUGHT THAT A FEW BEERS AND SOME WEED WOULD LEAD TO THE LOSS OF HALF OF MY LIFE!!!
So to you, the kid who is reading this, if you have not tried alcohol and/or drugs yet, guard yourself and your life against that first one, and if you are that kid who has tried alcohol and/or drugs, I beg you to guard your life against the next one.
I never in a million years thought as a kid, that something as fun as drinking some beers and/or smoking some weed could lead to losing 28 years of my life. I could go on and on about all of my losses regarding alcohol and drugs but I am sure you get the picture. That first one is the worst one!!!!!
If you think you have a problem and ever want to talk to someone who has been through it and would never, ever judge you, please call me. My number is 774-222-2311 and I am available at any time…
To you, the parents, guard your kids lives and do whatever it is that necessary to make sure they do not fall into this trap. It is very easy to fall into and the worst thing you can do, is think that it is not “your kid”
All the best and warmest of regards,
Rich Barnes
Richfulthinking.com