Escape and Self-Medication.

-----When teens are unhappy and can’t find a healthy outlet for
their frustration or a trusted confidant, they may turn to chemicals for solace. Depending on
what substance they’re trying, they may feel blissfully oblivious, wonderfully happy or
energized and confident. The often rough teenage years can take an emotional toll on children,
sometimes even causing depression, so when teens are given a chance to take something to
make them feel better, many can’t resist. For example, some teens abuse prescription
medicine to manage stress or regulate their lives. Sometimes they abuse prescription
stimulants (used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) to provide additional energy
and the ability to focus when they’re studying or taking tests. Others are abusing prescription
pain relievers and tranquilizers to cope with academic, social or emotional stress.
Boredom.----Teens who can’t tolerate being alone have trouble keeping themselves occupied or
crave excitement are prime candidates for substance use. Not only do alcohol and marijuana
give them something to do, but those substances help fill the internal void they feel. Further,
they provide a common ground for interacting with like-minded teens, a way to instantly bond
with a group of kids.
Drugs and alcohol work quickly. The initial effects feel really good. Teenagers turn to
drug use because they see it as a short-term shortcut to happiness.
Adolescents want to test you, your rules, your boundaries and their limits
Parents will experience their young children wanting to strike out on their own: they want to
drop your hand and walk alone, to play in the park with friends without you. As they become
teenagers they really want to smash through the barriers you see as protection but they see as
confinement.
Gradually loosening your rules as they get older can help. If you relax on some issues you can
stand firm on the important ones. Children will push – sometimes, not because they want you
to give way but because they need you to say no, so they can see the edge and feel safe inside it.
Other times, their pushing is a sign that it’s time to renegotiate the rules. Too few rules feels
scary and it can feel as if you don’t love or pay attention to them enough to care what they do.
Too many rules can hamper a child who never learns to assess risk or make decisions.
Children can still be drawn to alcohol even though their first experience of it may be
unpleasant. They may not like the taste or how it makes them feel but they often persist.
It’s important for them to understand the risks of underage drinking but they won’t listen or
believe you unless you first address the upsides of alcohol and why people drink.
Young People drink because…Risky behaviour is higher in puberty
Young people can take risks deliberately having made a risk assessment and deciding it’s worth
it. Their ability to assess risk isn’t accurate1. This is because teenagers are struggling with two
important changes to the brain during adolescence:--Puberty switches on a capacity for strong
emotions, impulsive behaviour and a need for sensations. It’s why they’ll take risks even when
they ‘know better’. Learning the facts about smoking or drinking may not stop them trying
because the sensation-seeking part of their brain drowns out sense.--The development of the
thinking brain that assesses risks, plans ahead, sees consequences and governs self-control is
not fully developed until 16 or 17 years old and even then it still needs fine tuning well into the
20s2. That’s why they need you to help them until they grow into their ability to be sensible

.-----A person’s reputation can be tarnished quickly

Going into college, I would say I had a pretty good reputation. I was a straight-A student-athlete
with a variety of friends and people thought highly of me. But as soon as I started getting drunk
on a regular basis, I began doing and saying things that affected the way people viewed me. I
pretty quickly became known as the girl who always got wasted and passed out. It didn’t
matter that I was a good student or a decent writer or a generally happy person. What stuck in
people’s minds was the way I acted when alcohol was involved. I made an impression in that
way — and it wasn’t a good one. Thankfully once I stopped drinking I was able to slowly
rebuild my reputation. But I have no doubt that had I kept drinking, it would have gotten more
and more difficult to regain the respect of people I cared about.
-----Drinking often and in large amounts, negatively affects your physical health
I’d always known that a lifetime of drinking is awful for certain parts of the body, but it never
occurred to me that I could still damage my body in just the two years that I drank — even if it
wasn’t permanent damage. Drinking like I did led to a variety of negative impacts on my health.
Between the calories I drank and the food I binged on when I was drunk, I gained about 30
pounds between the end of high school and the end of my sophomore year of college. But more
concerning than the weight gain was just the overall appearance of my skin. When I look back
at photos from when I was drinking, I realize just how bloated and yellow my skin looked
----You can only ignore a problem for so long
I think that from the moment I started drinking, I knew I didn’t drink in the way others did. But
denial can be powerful. Admitting that I may have a problem with alcohol meant that I would
likely need to stop drinking, which I was unwilling to do. So instead of confronting my feelings
about my drinking, I just shoved them further and further down. There were a few occasions
that friends tried to talk to me about my relationship with alcohol and I would admit that I
tended to get out of control, then apologize, then return to drinking the same way. This wasn’t a
good way to deal with the way I drank, and eventually it all came to a head. I was eventually
forced to confront my drinking, my demons and myself, despite how hard I tried to avoid doing
just that. The truth is that problems have to be dealt with eventually, and it’s easier to address
them willingly and early on.
-----You are the only person who can save yourself
Sure, when it came to getting sober I had friends and family who pushed me in that direction
and supported me along the way. But until I came to terms with alcoholism and admitted that
drinking was a problem for me, their efforts did no good. I had to be the one to surrender and
decide that I deserved a better life than the one I was leading while drinking. I had to be the one
to say “I can do this and I am going to do this.” Every single day, I have to continue to choose
this lifestyle. The only person who can truly control your actions and choices is yourself, and
that goes for all aspects of life.
Though I’m not done learning life lessons by any means, I’m glad that I learned these lessons
when I did and how I did. It’s easy to look back and wish I never drank in the first place, but the
truth is that the experiences and lessons I had through drinking shaped me into the person I am
today — and that is a person I am proud to be.
---- It might not be love, but happiness isn't so bad
(You can’t buy happiness but you can buy WINE and that’s a kind of same thing)
-----Love is all you need", happiness never hurt either. When it comes in a bottle, it's just more
convenient that way!------
Life is made up of memories, not dreams
(No one looks backon their life and rememberes the night they got plenty of sleep.)
There's a lot of fun to be had out in the world, so don't miss out on your part of the party!