Addiction hasn't really ever been a factor in my life or any of my family members. We have one cousin that got hooked on heroin 20 years ago but he has fully recovered and is one of the rare members of that not so great club that dropped the hard stuff but still has beers and whiskeys. Most of the time addicts have to remain completely clean and sober else the relapse. He never did. I think the family shamed him into being very afraid to let us all down because it was a really bad time for him and us.
I went to college, I was subjected to excessive drinking, I was offered and took a wide variety of drugs including X and cocaine. I dabbled with acid as well but that was really not an experience that was for me so I only did that a couple of times.
I've over-indulged in many points in my life but I never achieved the status of what I consider to be an addict and neither has really anyone else I know in the redneck community. So how is this possible?
src
I think the only thing I was ever really addicted to was cigarettes and the thing about that is that in the 80's and 90's when I was growing up and going to college, smoking cigarettes were not taboo the way that they are now. Basically everyone I knew smoked and you were allowed to smoke just about anywhere. This wasn't just limited to bars and certain parts of restaurants but literally everywhere. I recall there was a grocery store in my college neighborhood that outside of the salad bar area, you were allowed to smoke in all other parts of the store.
Things are a lot different now and the fact that the cost of cigs went from less than a dollar to around $6 a pack had a lot to do as far as motivating me and many others to quit. North Carolina is actually a tobacco state so while $6 sounds like a massive increase in price, the cost in other non-tobacco states has seen a MUCH bigger increase than this.
src
I also think that as someone gets older, they start to take the long-term ramifications of smoking a lot more seriously. When you are a teenager or in your 20's especially in the 90's when basically everyone smoked, you feel invincible and even though you are very aware of the problems and that ciggies are almost definitely going to result in health problems down the road, you don't feel as though it applies to you. I think that I was in my late 20's before I started to feel as though having "smokers lung" every morning was something that I realized I should probably start to get a bit serious about.
In the redneck community, there is likely a higher percentage of people that still smoke than in other demographics. In the Elk's lodge, which is a private establishment, we are able to get around the no indoors smoking ban because it is a private club. Out of courtesy and not because of any sort of law, the lodge cordoned off a special area for the smokers complete with extraction fans and this is a good thing because now that I do not smoke and haven't for many years, the smell of it bothers me. I really don't like ashtrays and it is amazing to me that I ever embraced this pointless habit in the first place.
I do smoke weed every now and then and I always say to myself "at least I am getting something out of this... when you smoke you feel literally nothing."
I feel a bit stupid for getting roped into smoking cigarettes in the first place because I remember the first one I ever had back in I think it was 1991. One of the "cool guys" in the school parking lot offered me one and because of social pressures I took it and smoked it. I remember the headache, nausea, and dizziness. To this day it blows my mind that I ever had a second one.
I have never been addicted to anything other than that and I just wonder, am I smart or am i just lucky? I drink almost every day but it is just a few beers at the Elk's Lodge and that's basically it. I have beers in my fridge at home but unless someone is coming over for a visit those are rarely even even drunk. I guess I just don't like to have booze on my own and it is totally a social thing for me.
I'm happy that I am wired this way because I have seen people go through intense addiction, including my cousin, and it isn't pretty. What about you? Ever been addicted to anything?