guns....my antidrug

[paintballdude902]

well this is a little hard for me to write but i think it may help a few others out there with a battle similar to mine. alot of my friends never knew about it and the only person in my family that knows is one of my brothers that helped me get clean

back about a year ago i was having a pretty hard time in life, i was failing a few classes, found out my girlfriend was sleeping with a good friend of mine ect.. i started using perscription drugs from time to time, now i was never a big drug user in high school i had smoked pot once or twice but that was it, my recreational use turned into an addiction and by march i was spending somewhere around $150 a week on pills i was using every thing i could get from vicoden to methadone just to escape from problems i didnt have to courage to fix. because of my addiction i lost some pretty good friends that figured if hes gonna start this crap maybe we shouldnt hang with him anymore. i made some more "friends" that were into the same thing i was which just pushed my addiction further. i guess i finally hit rock bottom around june when i went to california to visit family and the effect of withdrawl made me so sick the entire trip i didnt want to do anything except sleep this is when my brother told me that he knew what was going on and would help me in any way i needed it. more than anything i just needed him for someone to talk to.

when i got home i sat down with my best friends max and cassie and told them what was going on. they both showed me total support and my buddy max has been one of my best friends since freshman year of high school the next day he took me shooting, i owned guns and still do but i was spending all my money on pills so didnt shoot hardly any at that point, it was just me and him, a bottle of 15 vicoden, and our guns. we sat there and lined up every pill on a dowel and shot them(took a few tries lol) this was kinda my way of destroying my demons. it actually was really hard to do that because i kept thinking what a waste, but when we were done it actually felt really good that i was able to have fun with out them, release my built up stress and defeat my problems

this was the day i figured out that i need to deal with my problmes and not just run away from them like i had been. this was also the day that i found the best way i ever have to release stress we sest up everything we could think of that day, from a crt monitor to full soda cans and those pills to fruit just to make something explode.

i had so much fun then and i didnt need the drugs to have a good time and release stress. ive carried this on since july, i tend to shoot alot now to release stress and cope with problems. it relaxes me just about as much as drugs ever did and is cheaper and legal

im sitting here writing this with tears building up in my eyes thinking about everything that in a moment of weakness drove me to drugs, how hard the battle not to go back was, drove me away from friends, but most importantly drove me to the people that are my true friends the people that wanted me to be clean and that stood by me the whole time.

its a true possiblity that guns saved me from a life of nothingness and drug use

my note to any of you that are battling something similar is this: you are not a weak person and we all have our problems but you can conquor yours and you can over come the demons find somethinglike shooting to take the stress away, and find your true friends

 

[mnrivrat]

Keep it simple ! Keep it going !

 

[expvideo]

I am very happy for you that you had the strength to ovecome something that was so much stronger than you for a while. I wish you luck and for what it's worth, even though I'm just some stranger on the internet, I know how hard it is to walk away from something like that, and you should hold your head high every day knowing that you were strong enough to do that. We all make mistakes and we all have moments of weakness. I hope that you can stay strong and keep from going back to drugs. Don't throw away all of your hard work in a moment of weakness. You're stronger than that, and I'm sure you know that by now. Congratulations and from one THR member to another, I am proud of you. God bless.

 

[cleardiddion]

Very nice post

 

[Kind of Blued]

My three loves in life are jazz music, craft beer as an art, and firearms and all for which they stand. Given that it will take me the rest of my life to be the musician that I want to be, and that making craft beer is perhaps the greatest hobby of all time, I decided that I would try to make a career out of firearms in some form or another. Enjoying firearms helped me decide my path in life in regard to having a career when I simply couldn't decide, so I understand where you're coming from.

Educate yourself, pursue self-actualizing hobbies, and try to be who you want to be. Anything else can be dealt with as it comes. Take care.

 

[Hoplophile]

I didn't really understand freedom till I bought a gun, I think. I felt more like I deserved to vote, rather than like I was being permitted to vote.

That sorted out a lot of little squabbling issues upstairs.

 

[Eyesac]

Good for you buddy!

 

[heron]

Congratulations. It's great that you were able to find a way to overcome, and it's even better that you had family and friends who were there for you.
Stay strong, and keep practicing.

 

[JImbothefiveth]

Good job, good to hear!

 

[JohnL2]

You are lucky to have people who genuinely care about you help you get back to some kind of normal.
Everyone has ways of dealing with the baloney in life. Believe me, it will never end. The baloney is unceasing.
You slowly have figured it out for yourself. In your own way. I offer my congratulations.
I've been through some rough waters. I know how terrible the feeling is when you are looking for answers and no one, no one has them. And the people with good intentions just make things worse. Still shaking my head at that one.

People tend to underestimate the "therapeutic" nature of martial skills. Shooting is a martial art. It helps you focus. It is incredible how it can clear your head and just "recalibrate" you. Just try trap or skeet shooting and you will understand. Unfortunately, this is getting lost in all the political correct nonsense that we are inundated with nowadays.
I am glad to see that you are on the road back to being a member of society. And it is good that you found this little island in the morass of the internet. If you need to just share or let it out, we'll be here.
Don't ever give it up. Keep going. Those highend trap and skeet shotguns are true works of art.

 

[HeavenlySword]

Sorry to hear you've suffered so much. I know I'm just some random stranger on the internet, but congrats for being able to overcome your problems. Yes, making stuff explode IS SO EXHILARATING!

 

[wilson]

Good Job, I quit drinking a few years ago, it wasnt easy. Stay strong and be proud of yourself. Just pay attention to the things that make you want to do drugs, and stay away from them. Running and working out help me burn off stress, no one wants to run with a hangover.