Meth, what is so bad about doing meth and why is it frowned upon?

Depends what you mean by does it ever leave you; Sorry this will be a bit long

you can't undo what you've done, you can't erase memories. All our thoughts, feelings and behaviors are influenced and to some degree or another could be considered a direct expression of something we've learnt through experience.. So in that sense, no, but accepting this is actually liberating in it self; what you can do is recognize and utilize this by forming new memories that ultimately outweigh the influence old ones have over your life, but change is often the more painful route even where it's ultimately beneficial, and we naturally tend to adhere to the path of least resistance even if it's no good for us. This is what people mean when they say you need to 'fight it'

So on that note, yes, with enough time and determination you can put it behind you and learn to avoid it to the point where at most it'll be a mild annoyance from time to time. but it takes forming new memories through experience, every time you think 'one last bag' and give into that, you're just reinforcing that experience, ultimately setting yourself up for it to happen again the next time.

the trick is to not get that 'one last bag' but just let it go and move on, because is there ever really 'one last bag'? this part is much harder than it sounds, believe me, I know. But if you can manage it just once, even if that means taking measures such as having a friend or family hold your money, or spending the money on something else immediately, it'll get easier from there as you'll know you have it in you to steer clear when you want it, then when you see you still have that money to spend on whatever you like to, you'll start to see the benefits, from there well, the more you reinforce those kind of experiences the easier it gets, even so you'll still remember what meth was like, which is why having a good support network helps

not going to suggest rehab because at this point, you're probably not at the point where you'd need it but this is the kind of thing that rehab helps people to establish; it creates a sense of community/belonging while providing new positive experiences outside the context of drug use, ultimately preparing them to re-enter society as functional people, but that doesn't necessarily mean people will be 'cured' so to speak so much as it offers that opportunity for people who want to turn their lives around especially when they can't do it without (read, alone with no support from anyone and no chance of stopping themselves)

mostly you need to will yourself to make a change by recognizing where you went wrong in the past, and even if it's painful, willingly doing the opposite of that in order to form new experiences; this progressively makes it easier and eventually you'll get past it

Whether or not you succeed at getting past it ultimately depends on your commitment to changing, recognizing pitfalls and learning to avoid them (i.e. I've managed to avoid it for a while, might as well reward myself with a little bit), as well as other things such as social support.

If you're lacking the will power to do it alone or don't have people in your life you can fall back on when the going gets tough, there's a lot of help available out there like support groups or counselors which aren't necessarily rehabilitation programs but offer the social support to help you get past it, ultimately I found the best thing you can do for yourself if you want to let it go is to cut ties with anyone that partakes regularly which I know sucks. The reason I end up back on it from time to time is checking in with old mates I used to get on with, sadly prior to meth they were great friends and it's hard to just 'abandon' them as such, but there's not much I can do for them even when I've been clear for like a year given that being around their use tends to lead me back to it, which sucks a huge deal because supposedly seeing me sober inspires the thought of getting sober in them, yet they're still constantly surrounded by others who use so it's of little help in the end. The social aspect as such is probably the most significant factor towards sustained success; and in my experiences after getting past the first wave of cravings life's really not that bad, the first is always the hardest emotionally and mentally, after that they tend to be really sneaky which is why cutting ties with users and having good a good, non using social circle helps HUGELY

10 years of use is a long time, but you should think less of the past and more about the future, but even if i'm starting to sound like a broken record at this point (it's quite late, i've had a bit to drink tonight so apologies) the question you should really be asking yourself is, do you /really/ want to keep getting that 'one last bag' knowing full well it's not going to be the last one if you do?

/r/Drugs Thread Parent