Blog 1:
Party culture. It’s a huge thing in the states. To this day, I love going out to a bar, getting a drink with friends, and breaking it down on the dance floor. Plenty of college students love to do that, but many don’t even remember it.
I remember being a freshman in college, doing the required modules about alcohol. Understanding what a standard drink was and how you should alternate water with alcohol when drinking. I knew how to be safe. I knew how to keep track of my drinks. I knew to drink water. I didn’t even have a single drink till I was 19, which for the states, was lowkey considered quite “old”, even though the legal drinking age was 21. One could say that I did everything right; I understood the consequences of alcohol and knew that I had to be careful.
Yet, I also messed up and had a night I couldn’t remember. It was terrifying waking up the next morning. How did I get home? Did I embarrass myself? Why is my friend mad at me? Will I feel hungover (the answer was obviously yes).
That day was a terrible day. Not only was I sick, but I felt guilty. I was mean to one of my friends, something I couldn’t even THINK of doing sober, and it was the worst feeling in the world. I’m not a person who blacks out for fun. That wasn’t me. I knew I couldn’t do that again. The night was supposed to be fun. To be honest, I’m sure if you looked at me it looked like I was having fun. But those neurons in my brain were not making their connections. Memories were not being formed. It’s like the events never even happened. Isn’t that odd? I was still awake, but my brain wasn’t creating memories.
It took awhile to overcome that guilt and shame, but when I did, I made a promise to myself to never do that ever again. I took a break for about 4 months from alcohol, but still went out with my friends. I still loved the bar scene, and that showed me it wasn’t the alcohol I loved, it was the fact that I was with people I loved, making memories. In those moments, my brain was firing like crazy. It was making memories that I still love today, and no amount of alcohol or fuzzy feelings would make me trade those.
Today, I still drink, but I do so in moderation. Because of who I am, I’m able to still have a few drinks and then cut off when I need to. But not everyone can do that and that’s okay. It’s okay to be sober. It’s okay to limit yourself to one drink. It’s okay to go to a bar sober and order yummy mocktails (and to be honest, you’re probably saving lots of money). In my opinion, making those memories will always be superior to the feeling and high that alcohol can give. And because of that, I’m much more careful today and hope others can do the same.
Blog 2:
The first time I got acquainted with alcohol was watching my uncle drink as a child. I watched the delight on his face, how it seems like all his worries disappeared and I wondered. Back then I had no concrete worries. My worries were about getting to wear my pink dress at school, or seeing if mummy would buy me an ice-cream on our way back home. But as I got older and my emotions and thoughts developed, my worries also began to solidify, no longer about the boys at school but about the voices in my head.
When I started high school, I began to think of an escape from those voices. School was hell on earth with the students that would make fun of me because I was younger than most. They would make up songs to mock me and begin drumming once I entered the classroom. In my senior year I started having panic attacks. They were really attacks because they would come when I least expected it. They would clog my throat and press down on my chest, choking me until I couldn’t breathe. I started to long for an escape even more. From the things around me and from the things inside of me. And that was when I remembered the glimpse on my uncle’s face, the way all his worries melted away. And so, I picked up my first bottle. Snuck it into my room when I thought no one was watching. The taste was bitter, but I kept on chugging, reminding myself of the bliss ahead of us. Before I could transit into a faraway land, one full of peaceful streams and sunny skies, a knock on my door brought me back to reality. When I saw my mum look me in the eye, I could feel her disappointment. I couldn’t understand why because all I wanted to do was get away. “Trying to escape will only bring you back feeling ten times worse than before, and your uncle can tell you that for free”, She told me. At the end of the day, it’s about managing your stress in healthy ways, because trying to get a temporary fix from your problems leaves you with even bigger ones.
Blog 3:
I am a female, second-generational Canadian, family being born and raised in El Salvador, and someone who has battled mental illness firsthand. Addiction, undeniably, is an important issue that affects people worldwide, transcending geographical and cultural boundaries. Its reach extends to communities, families, and individuals, leaving a trail of emotional and psychological devastation in its existence. This global problem knows no discrimination, impacting people from all over. Addiction, whether to substances or behaviours, introduces a host of physical, emotional, and social complications, making it a significant public health concern. The several effects of addiction resonate far and wide, creating broken families, strained relationships, and a heavy toll on mental health. Mental health, an essential aspect of our wellbeing, can be profoundly affected by addiction. Having personally navigated through the maze that is poor mental health itself, I understand the risky relationship between addiction and mental wellbeing. The attempt to find satisfaction through addiction often results in a cycle that only worsens the underlying mental illnesses. This spiral makes recovery even more troubling. My own experiences with poor mental health have offered me a different perspective onto the harm that addiction can impact on someone’s health. My understanding of how addiction can affect mental health issues is rooted in both personal experience as well as in observation. Having battled my own struggles with addiction, I’ve witnessed how easy one can become trapped, especially in situations where there are underlying mental health challenges. For me, it was anxiety and depression that made addiction take control in certain aspects of my life. Through recovery, I’ve found that battling addiction when also fighting anxiety and depressive episodes is a battle that shouldn’t be fought alone and by seeking professional help and having a support system it can be much easier. Addiction, overall, deepens the agony that comes with emotional challenges. Today, the need for awareness and support for those facing addiction is clear. Sharing our experiences lead to us being able to work towards creating a more understanding world that allows individuals to seek and recover.
Blog 4:
I grew up in a small town where recreational drug use was rampant and encouraged. Vaping, smoking, marijuana, and harder drugs, such as cocaine, poppers, and roofies, were all used and abused in my
community among both adults and teenagers. These addictions would start at the early age of fourteen, as it became social-acceptable to begin partying. However, even though my exposure to these drugs began as a young teenager, around fourteen or fifteen, I always rejected using them when offered or pressured. Peer pressure is a huge factor in teenagers lives as young adults grow and develop their peers are the ones they seek acceptance from. Nonetheless, I understood the negative effects of drug use, whether extremely detrimental like cocaine or less-harshly effective like vaping, on my mind and body. Physical, mental, and emotional health have been important to me from an early age, so taking care of it by resisting drug use has been crucial to maintaining these factors. Moreover, harm and substance reduction are important for the people around you. I witnessed my friends and peers become lost in the social normalization of recreational drug use. They became engulfed in the idea of drug use being acceptable when used at parties, but drugs soon were part of their everyday lives. Assisting them in harm reduction is difficult at a young age, but it is the best opportunity to prevent it for the future. Substance mindfulness starts early, and it is crucial that it continues as we grow.
Blog 5:
Here are a few things I’ve learned about substance use while being in university taking the nursing program. It is important to reflect on and analyze the things that you’ve learned from your family and social circles. Doing this has helped me recognize biases and stereotypes I’ve believed that I have not acknowledged and most importantly, aren’t based on fact or science. I have also understood more deeply the heartbreaking reality that society has decided that there is a limit of compassion and empathy for people who use substances. I have been especially challenged by this as a nursing student. The reality is that substance use often is coupled with mental illness and that addiction/substance use must be understood as a chronic disease of the brain. We would never expect patients with heart disease or diabetes to “fix themselves”. So why do we have that expectation for people who use substances? Who are we to decide that certain people can’t have access to healthcare or to say that they should only have access to care a certain number of times? People who use substances have every right to access evidence-based, compassionate, and dignified care. They need access to healthcare and need to feel that they will be received when seeking help. For us to see any reductions in the opioid crises we live in, we must address the attitudes that we have deemed acceptable for too long. This is such an important topic, and I would challenge each person to consider what it means to say that certain people should have access to healthcare over others. When I have done that, it has helped me grow to become more empathetic and compassionate. And that’s what we all should long to see more of in our communities and society.
Contributed By Peer Health Volunteers
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