My “wake up call”: In my teen years I smoked weed, eventually someone introduced me to the “new” crave smoking crack cocaine. Oh gosh one toke was better than smoking 2 big ole joints I was immediately hooked, loved it. I smoked all weekend, going to work Monday or Tuesday was out of the question but I had to go Wed. as it was payday. Left work early off to go party some more called off work Thur. Fri. partied smoking continually right through the weekend Mon. and Tues. Showed up to work Wed. strung out craving another toke. Then I saw my paycheck; one day’s pay and my boss told me if I continued to miss work I would lose my job. To go home and think about it if I choose to keep my job to come back unstrung on Monday. My supplier refused to give me any more as I owed him over $200; I went through withdrawal for the next four days and begged God to help me promised him if he would let me live I would never touch crack again. That was probably one of the best things that could have happened to me. I have kept that promise otherwise God only knows where I would have ended up; dead or in jail for sure. Have you ever had a “wake up call”?
Wow, powerful story. I have never smoked crack myself, but I had a couple friends who did for awhile, and one of them is dead now. I have never had a wake-up call, so to speak as drugs have not been a big issue for me, but I have witnessed so many people caught in their snare. That is the main reason I come to this site. Good thing your supplier refused to give you any more after only $200, or you might have been in big trouble. Relying on God works wonders. Jesus saved me, and I try to have the conversation about it with addicts who I know could use the help and are open to the belief in a higher power.
Well I had a different wake-up call. My experience had nothing to do with substance abuse but it had some similarities to your story because it happened when I was also a teenager. Back then I rebelled every chance I got. And then one day (I couldn't recall when that was) I was walking through the streets and saw naked and utterly dirty-looking children begging for food and money along the pavement, their parents sitting on corners and holding up plastic cups. I realized, "What makes me think I've had it worse than other people?" I was ashamed of my vanity, complaining about not being understood and feeling as if the world was on my shoulders, when there were people suffering more than I was. So I guess that's basically how I straightened up my act and started becoming more and more responsible for my actions. That's how God changed me. He gave me a new way of looking at things. In that regard, we're the same. So cheers to you and may you continue the good journey you began.
To know this happened to me after only one or two tokes I was hooked wanting more, more, more and then the withdrawal was relentless. I seemed to throw up things I had never ate; followed by days of dry heaves, migraines stomach cramps, extreme paranoia, chills, sweating hot, freezing cold, shakes, my heart racing 100 miles a second as if it was going to beat its way out of my body and feelings of suicide; thinking it would be better than this. I don’t even want to imagine what someone that has been hooked for years would go through during massive withdrawal. I will always remember that awful experience as if it was yesterday and know that the only reason I survived it is by the grace of God. The younger generation has so much peer pressure and so many choices that make it is so easy to go down the wrong path. It is easy to make a wrong split second decision just to “fit in”. They do not realize that decision and just a few moments on that path can change or take their life in an instance.
Well, I only smoked crack a couple of times, so I don't have a lot of experience on the subject. I've got to say I didn't know I was smoking crack because somebody just rolled a mixed joint, so being drunk at the time, I didn't notice anything until I tried to walk. It hit me like a ton of bricks, I couldn't walk or talk. I could hear and understand what people were saying, but I just couldn't respond. Got to say it wasn't fun at all.
Did a lot of coke in my "past life" but never tried smoking crack, it just wasn't really a thing. I had a few missed wake up calls, once I went on a weekend long bender crashed my car into a ditch and spent the night in the drunk tank. Still didn't realize I had a serious problem. My friends and I laughed about it at the bar the next weekend as we drank our faces off and went into the washroom again and again and again. Sigh, so much life wasted.
During my days in college, i used to drink a lot and it took a heavy toll on me financially and health wise. I spent every dime i had on cheap liquor and at one time almost drank all my college fees. This one time we were up drinking like crazy with my buddy and he got involved in a fight because of a girl. Alcohol has a way of making someone feel invisible and i decided to show those guys who were about five how tough i was. To cut a long story short, i woke up in hospital the following morning with two broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder. Needless to say, i never drank again.
Congratulations Jeremy2 on a lesson well learned and put to knowledge. Living within a mile of a State college and also owning a tavern in the area for over 20 years I have dealt with many college students over the years. I feel you were one of the lucky ones; many would lick their wounds and go do it again tomorrow. Some folks can take a bad experience and learn from it as a lesson. Others just take it in stride and blow it off as a simple wrong place wrong time; not the fault of alcohol or any form of drug.I am a firm believer that experience can be the best of knowledge if one chooses to learn from it. If they choose to skip that knowledge class it is often left as a complicated lesson unlearned… Best wishes to all on your journey through life.
A wake up call? Hmmm let me think. Yes many of them. Some quick, and some long lived. What is amazing about wake up calls is when you really start to understand them and exactly what they are all about. They are by design, coincidence or random. You are the means and the cause by which it all unfolds. Put all the wake up calls together and ponder them.
Dropping out of college, loseing all my friends, being depressed out of my mind the list goes on and on. Somtimes i feel myself dropping back into bad habits and these to are smaller wake up calls
I think every addict at some point in their life gets the wake up call they need to angry and quit their addiction, some more than once. It's if you recognise that wake up call, and more importantly how you react to it, and if you do decide to quit or not.