I’ve had a few minor drug issues in my life, all of which I have had garnered the strength to overcome. I was lucky to see a way of resilience after finding myself in a place where I wanted to separate myself from the world. It’s a fine line between facing reality and the easy fall into oblivion. I think that most people do not seek to envision how fine this line really is. I have seen close friends and family, fall into the strangle hold of drug addiction. I watched people die in both a metaphysical and literal sense. My experience has taught me, that drugs are not the problem, it is the constant pressures of conforming to a life of structure and rules. The structure and ruling is not just the laws that govern us, but it is also rules of society, the harshest rulings of all. Some people are OK to live under regulation, but others find it damn near impossible. The truth is we are all built differently, but we live in a world that expects us to all be the same.
I believe that our psychology is built from individual experience, experiences that change our beings daily. Think about the experiences you have had today and all the ways that they could reflect on your subconscious thinking, multiply that by the 365 days of the year, then multiply by the years you have been in existence. This is why I would never compare myself to the next person. I simply, have not walked a day (or lifetime) in their shoes. Many of us find it easy to accept the idea of conforming, but many of us do not. If you feel that you are trapped in a world that does not adapt to your conditioning and you have tried countless times to adapt, then the only logical thing is to escape, especially for a tortured soul. I know that there are alternative modes of escapism, but not all of us are privy to this information.
I have seen way too many people struggle for too long and it is sad to see them fall into desperation. But rather than look down on the tortured, I would rather be compassionate and understanding, that their days on this earth are hard and testing. People say drugs are the easy way out, I think many people see hard days leading into addiction and even harder days making their way out.
Next time you see another human in pain, understand that their experience can never be directly accompanied by thoughts of your own, but their pain is a direct reflection of the world we live in. A little unconditional compassion goes a long way.