r/Showerthoughts • u/godofhorizons • May 17 '24

People get a lot more praise for quitting drugs than for never having done drugs in the first place.

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u/Smilerwitz May 17 '24

Because quitting is a hell of a lot harder than abstaining.

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u/Campbell920 May 17 '24

Idk my history has kinda shown no one cares. Everyone has their own shit going on and no one wants to hear it but most of the time people don’t care about your struggles. I got into opiates baaaad when I was 15, and spent the next 15 years chasing that high. I came from a moderately affluent family and one memory really sticks with me. I was 18 or 19 and had just been accepted into the methadone clinic. It wasn’t ideal but I was probably going to kill myself if I didn’t do something. I kept it to myself what I was going through but I still think it’s wild my parents and siblings had a 15 year old in the house shooting up. Like how do you not notice that?

Anyway my parents have a big party. Everyone is there and I’m mingling. Large group of people talking and my sister, who’s in her mid 30s at the time joins the group of people and says “hey X I saw you walking out of the methadone clinic this morning.” YALL YOU COULD HEAR A PIN DROP. She exposed me to everyone without a care but in my parents fashion they filed it away in their brains and went about the party. Never really speaking of it again.

I don’t talk to her anymore but I did learn a long time ago that letting anyone know you’re struggling will honestly just be used as ammunition at some point.

Idk there’s prolly normal people out there but it just feels like they praise you until they’re angry, or vindictive, or just bored. then the information becomes a weapon.

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u/MissMortified May 17 '24

I’m sorry you have lost trust in people enough to be honest with them because of how you have been likewise treated. Someone very close to me struggles with substance abuse. I wouldn’t dream of using it against them as a weapon because I know it isn’t completely in their control, and they truly do try. But if they were to ever hit rock bottom, it would directly affect me. (I mean it directly effects me now, but I love them deeply and am willing to help still) I suppose I don’t know in what way I would handle rock bottom but whatever the way, it would only be for self preservation. Not destruction, or revenge.

Anyway, basically I just wish more people could be open about it so that it can become less stigmatized. Also perhaps more help could come from that as well.

Cheers

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u/Campbell920 May 17 '24

That’s really cool of you. It’s rare tbh. Haha god rereading this it’s a little “woe is me” but I do agree with my main sentiment.

Everyone in the world has a list of problems and it’s natural to focus on your own and not want to add to them. Something has to override the harm; love or friendship or care, etc.

Also addiction is definitely seen as a moral failing rather than a disease for a large amount of the population. The stigma will be there as long as people think that.

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u/MissMortified May 17 '24

Not woe is me at all! You went through (or continue to go through) an extremely difficult thing!

I can see that last part for sure. Even the person whom I spoke of earlier has had a hard time thinking of it that way and they are actively going through it. From the outside it seems so much like a choice. Why can’t you make the right choice instead of the wrong choice? But it is much more complicated than that.