[Day 422] How I got hooked on pot
I started smoking pot at the age of 19, shortly after completing my freshman year in college. My best friend since 5th grade, had just started smoking it and told me stories about his highs, which led me to play around with the idea of trying it for myself. I told myself I would try it once just out of curiosity, and only once.
But "once" turned into twice, soon I was smoking every now and then, until about a year later when I turned into a daily smoker. The first time I got high was without my best friend; which was the reason I couldn't try it just "once." Then the second time around, I had a full blown panic attack after I hallucinated that my best friend was a devil.
I should've stopped right then and there, but for some reason I enjoyed the escape of that high. I had a bad experience breaking up with my first girlfriend at the start of that freshman year, and when I would get high I would start to feel happy again.
When I was 21, I met my second girlfriend. We started out getting high together, and things were going well in the beginning. But after about 3 months into the relationship, I decided that I wanted to quit pot. She supported me, but wasn't willing to quit herself. So that kind of messed things up between us. I stayed away from pot for a while after we broke up, but went right back to it, and that time around I began smoking a lot more frequently than ever before.
I was stuck in the vicious cycle of addiction. At one point, in my last two years of addiction I was smoking half-a-pack of cigarettes a day and abusing amphetamines. Pot was definitely my gateway drug.
Now, I'm 25 years old and have been clean of all substances for 422 days. I've had many ups, and much more downs along my sober journey. I graduated last year and am transitioning into the responsibility of adult life. I don't talk much with my best friend anymore, because it only reminds me of my past life since he's still stuck in that gripping cycle. Moving on from pot has been really tough for me, but I finally have my life back and that in itself makes this journey so worth it.