I do drugs because I don't want to feel sad

[Little One]

Life as I know it is a near constant attempt to escape life.

 

[ProxyAmenRa]

Life as I know it is a near constant attempt to escape life.

What is so bad about life to make you want to escape it?

 

[SandMizzle]

I do drugs because I don't want to feel sad

Hmm.. I can tell you now that it's probably the worst way to use drugs, but you probably know... I use them, like I add sugar to my coffee, it tastes better, but it's no problem drinking it without sugar.
I don't know how big your problems are (I mean if your whole family died right next to you while you were physically tortured, then noone would say anything), that you can only solve them with drugs, but if you want to get a surpressed sate of anxients you are probably on the best way.

Life as I know it is a near constant attempt to escape life.

Yes and no. I don't think we try to escape life but our social norms and pressure. What you call escaping life is what I call living.

 

[crippli]

Life as I know it is a near constant attempt to escape life.

I do not understand this sentence.

Life is an attempt to escape life?
An attempt to escape life is life?
Life is attempts?
Attempts is making an effort?

As long as you just try, you live?

 

[Paranoid Android]

What is so bad about life to make you want to escape it?

I guess the answer is in the depersonalization thread she/he opened.

 

[Kuu]

Life as I know it is a near constant attempt to escape life.

I know how this is.

I don't know how to stop it.

Everything's unreachable.

 

[Minuend]

I don't know how big your problems are (I mean if your whole family died right next to you while you were physically tortured, then noone would say anything), that you can only solve them with drugs, but if you want to get a surpressed sate of anxients you are probably on the best way.

Are these kinds of situations the only ones where you are allowed to feel sad?

"Suck it up, your problems aren't real"?

 

[SandMizzle]

Are these kinds of situations the only ones where you are allowed to feel sad?

"Suck it up, your problems aren't real"?

No, no! But I think there are better solutions for those problems than doing drugs. In the worst case scenario I showed I think the best way to treat the issue would be doing drugs, that's why I said that in this event it would be ok (IMO).
You can feel sad whenever you want to...

I never wanted to rubbish someone, in fact I don't know enough specific details to judge the situation.

 

[Minuend]

Ah, I misinterpreted. Sorry.

 

[NinjaSurfer]

Life as I know it is a near constant attempt to escape life.

weed is the only thing I've found that is safe to do on a consistent basis

 

[RaBind]

Escaping for symptoms, depression in this case, of a unsatisfying life alone can be harmful. As long as you are also making progress to solve the root cause of the depression than I guess its ok. If the root cause is something severe and unchangeable like a traumatic experience than maybe try other, more lasting or effective, treatments such as therapy.

 

[Da Blob]

Drugs can be used and they can be abused. As a professional, I've noticed a lot of self-medication which is a valid, if often illegal, use of drugs. However, one can't become dependent on drugs if one wishes to avoid addiction and its consequences.

One wonders, sometimes about the wisdom of sheltering children from the knowledge of the harsher aspects of reality. That is not to say children should not be protected, but rather at some point they need to be aware of what they are being protected from.

Life is sad when innocence is destroyed. Life is not fair, for injustice prevails in so many environments. Life is not without pain. etc. and etc.

However, that is not all that Life is, for only those who have experienced sadness can recognize and experience its opposite, joy. Only those who have been hungry can experience the delights of a full belly. A warm home in a bitter winter is only loved by those who have come in from the cold. Can one remember the joy of a light suddenly illuminating the darkness, driving the monsters away?

Embrace one's sadness as an opportunity, experience it fully and not through a drug induced haze, for if one does, one can eventually experience joy, in the same measure or greater, than that one has experienced sadness.

 

[hablahdoo]

However, that is not all that Life is, for only those who have experienced sadness can recognize and experience its opposite, joy. Only those who have been hungry can experience the delights of a full belly. A warm home in a bitter winter is only loved by those who have come in from the cold. Can one remember the joy of a light suddenly illuminating the darkness, driving the monsters away?

Brilliant outlook on sadness. Sadness never worries me because it never keeps me down forever. The thing I really watch out for is stress as it knows no bounds. My first year of college ended with complete failure to regulate stress, getting completely torn apart and detached. I sometimes wonder if weed could act as a safety net for that.

 

[snafupants]

I do not understand this sentence.

Life is an attempt to escape life?
An attempt to escape life is life?
Life is attempts?
Attempts is making an effort?

As long as you just try, you live?

The first use of life perhaps connotes Little One's phenomenological life ("as I know it") with all of the heretofore unstipulated setbacks (feeling sad?); the second use of life might refer to items that typically come affixed to conventional life (e.g., jobs, bureaucracy, perfidy, relationships, betrayal, death). My first thought upon reading this thread's title and opening post was the Peter Zapffe essay, The Last Messiah. Since human brains have developed so unprecedentedly and exquisitely given the constraints of planet Earth, folks basically are sent scrambling to find the most distracting and momentarily exhilarating/pleasurable apparatus and stimulus to obviate pondering the pain, disappointment, hypocrisy, ignorance, and brutality of basic human ontology. The deck really is stacked to promote (positively/negatively reinforce) a certain outcome.

http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/The_Last_Messiah

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Messiah

 

[Proletar]

@Da Blob: Excellent perspective!


I have myself been very much depressed in the previous four months or so. Each day, living through anxiety and panic with every breath. My life felt completely useless, and I thought of aging and dying, disease and suffering, living in a world full of suffering people engaging all of their time and energy in escaping.

I however did not escape. I sank deeper and deeper each day in soul-burning feelings of regret and a constant analysis of everything I was dealing with. Eventually, two days ago, I beat my ego and broke my chains. And now I feel stronger than ever before, with a feeling of beauty everywhere and in everything, knowing that there is no reason to be afraid, ever. It feels like I can take on the world, and I am completely sure of myself.


So whatever you do: don't escape. Don't distract yourself from what you are feeling. Don't read news or play games, just sit down and think. Figure out what you have to do in order to progress, and then do it. It keeps feeling worse and worse, until you defeat it. It is possible to do, and it's worth it.

 

[TriflinThomas]

I'm guessing since you have access to the internet that this is what's commonly known as a "first world problem." If you know what the problem is then you should fix it; otherwise, you're hurting yourself.

 

[Da Blob]

Brilliant outlook on sadness. Sadness never worries me because it never keeps me down forever. The thing I really watch out for is stress as it knows no bounds. My first year of college ended with complete failure to regulate stress, getting completely torn apart and detached. I sometimes wonder if weed could act as a safety net for that.

An understanding of the physiology of stress, the role of the HPA axis and the endocrine system can be very helpful in understanding stress.

The problem for many of us is not that we hate stress, but we actually love it - for all sorts of 'fun' chemicals gets dumped into our system during real stress, allowing us to perform at peak capacity for a short while. At lot of 'over-acheivers' are stress addicts, as well as some of us, gifted types.

However, the stress reaction as a biological mechanism, is triggered only by life threatening situations and the chemicals that are so fun during stress, leave toxic byproducts behind in the blood stream, producing a very nasty type of long term hangover, for prolonged stress sessions, which results in the condition known as 'burned out' or 'stressed out'

Pot as an anti-stressor? Perhaps, for those individuals who tend to over react to stressors, but for those of us who enjoy the Flow experience, it would be rather counter productive one would think.
***********************************
Congrats Proletar, one chose to eat the pill, welcome to the reality of the matrix...

 

[hablahdoo]

An understanding of the physiology of stress, the role of the HPA axis and the endocrine system can be very helpful in understanding stress.

The problem for many of us is not that we hate stress, but we actually love it - for all sorts of 'fun' chemicals gets dumped into our system during real stress, allowing us to perform at peak capacity for a short while. At lot of 'over-acheivers' are stress addicts, as well as some of us, gifted types.

However, the stress reaction as a biological mechanism, is triggered only by life threatening situations and the chemicals that are so fun during stress, leave toxic byproducts behind in the blood stream, producing a very nasty type of long term hangover, for prolonged stress sessions, which results in the condition known as 'burned out' or 'stressed out'

Pot as an anti-stressor? Perhaps, for those individuals who tend to over react to stressors, but for those of us who enjoy the Flow experience, it would be rather counter productive one would think.

Fascinating. I have no formal background knowledge on this but I've gathered an scattered understanding to better understand myself. Something relevant to this dialogue that pops to mind is Yerkes-Dodson Law, that the chemicals associated with stress improve performance up to a point then decreases.

If it's true that people vary in their response to stressors then my brain is probably trigger happy. To the resulting state I could attribute some of my more clever and creative ideas. But it tends to strike at the very worst time breaking any semblance of rationality when problems need to be solved. It's completely altered cognition, not inherently bad or good. If only I had a switch on the side of my head to control it...

Well about that, I've had some success with breathing and informal self meditation but it takes time and doesn't always work as well as hoped. Pot as an alternative seems more immediate and powerful, however it has more functions than simply reducing stress some of which may be undesirable.

 

[kora]

Drugs for me are an attempt to enhance my life. Alcohol will enhance my feelings for example, I suppose marijuana will enhance my thought process/analysing, etc... Different drugs bring out different sides of me.

 

[Vidi]

That's sad. Switch to vitamins, like vit D (sun) and some healthy food options. Depression can result from the lack of vitamins.
I don't understand how people can casually take drugs and ignore a simple fact that drugs first affect body, then emotions, that's just.. no words for it. If I would take drugs (even took penicilin when there's just a head ache), I would feel like that Pinnoccio when he grown mule's ears.
Escapism is much more satysfying through books, music, films, interests.

 

[snafupants]

That's sad. Switch to vitamins, like vit D (sun) and some healthy food options. Depression can result from the lack of vitamins.
I don't understand how people can casually take drugs and ignore a simple fact that drugs first affect body, then emotions, that's just.. no words for it. If I would take drugs (even took penicilin when there's just a head ache), I would feel like that Pinnoccio when he grown mule's ears.
Escapism is much more satysfying through books, music, films, interests.

Yeah guys, the escapism afforded by Pride and Prejudice can't compare to four hits of acid.

 

[Da Blob]

I wrote a bit about the stress response a couple years ago - it is actually an interesting topic because it provides so much of the foundation of who we are...

The Stress response is a means to adapt to change in the environment and the case could be made that if were were not subjected to stress of one kind or another we would never change /never grow - my signature picks up on that theme a bit.

Anyway here's a couple of links to the positive side of stress, for any that would be interested (BTW, Richard Lazarus 5 stars IMO)

Eustress was originally explored in a stress model by Richard Lazarus, it is the positive cognitive response to stress that is healthy, or gives one a feeling of fulfillment or other positive feelings[1] [2]. Selye created the term as a subgroup of stress to differentiate the wide variety of stressors and manifestations of stress
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustress

Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields.[1]
According to Csikszentmihalyi, flow is completely focused motivation. It is a single-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing and learning. In flow, the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand. To be caught in the ennui of depression or the agitation of anxiety is to be barred from flow. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task[2] although flow is also described (below) as a deep focus on nothing but the activity – not even oneself or one's emotions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_experience

 

[Vidi]

Yeah guys, the escapism afforded by Pride and Prejudice can't compare to four hits of acid.

It cannot, if it is not on a personal 'dying to read' list.

When I get to read something from that list, I am frequently 'stoned' to everything happening around. There're loads of hurt feelings here, people imagine I ignore them. In my more tender years, clothes patches on my shoulders were more mistreated then on elbows from the frequent shaking they received from my family; others never dared.

 

[ummidk]

Yeah guys, the escapism afforded by Pride and Prejudice can't compare to four hits of acid.

lol

 

[intpz]

Never even tried drugs, don't want to. The most I want to do is to try quality alcohol, which would lead me to being tipsy. I wouldn't want to get drunk or noticeably filled with alcohol.

Perhaps it would be interesting to try some weed or a cigarette, but I definitely wouldn't do neither on regular basis. Although, I am interested in trying smoking (cigarettes) as a habit, I wonder how it feels...

 

[TriflinThomas]

Weed smoke is so much smoother than cig smoke. Plus, there's a wide variety of good weed that give different effects, so there's pretty much a strain for everyone (unless you don't like weed).

 

[Absurdity]

Although, I am interested in trying smoking (cigarettes) as a habit, I wonder how it feels...

Please don't. I wish I never did.

 

[intpz]

Please don't. I wish I never did.

The reason for actually considering it, is that I don't get addicted to things some other people do. I can drop it and be okay. Of course it might be very different with cigarettes... And I'm not going to do it unless I will have money when there will be a possibility to buy my way out of lunch/throat cancer without losing stuff, excluding money. Otherwise, I doubt I'll do it.

 

[Proletar]

The reason for actually considering it, is that I don't get addicted to things some other people do. I can drop it and be okay. Of course it might be very different with cigarettes... And I'm not going to do it unless I will have money when there will be a possibility to buy my way out of lunch/throat cancer without losing stuff, excluding money. Otherwise, I doubt I'll do it.

How can you even know that you are a non-addictive person if you haven't even tried cigarettes?

Have you been under some other serious addictions, such as opiates or crack cocain?

 

[EyeSeeCold]

How can you even know that you are a non-addictive person if you haven't even tried cigarettes?

Have you been under some other serious addictions, such as opiates or crack cocain?

http://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/18/s...y-common-traits-are-found.html?pagewanted=all

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/look-it-way/200903/the-addictive-personality

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addictive_personality


Though this applies more to the psychological factors than the physical side of addictions. I'm pretty sure it's uncommon that someone could be resistant to a well-substantiated, severely/easily addicting drug.

 

[intpz]

How can you even know that you are a non-addictive person if you haven't even tried cigarettes?

Have you been under some other serious addictions, such as opiates or crack cocain?

Because *insert the post above*.

Sure, I've been on crack AND cocaine at the same time, however I refused to try cigarettes.