Marijuana Use and Mental Health

Ok I will come out with it, I smoked Marijuana but did not inhale.  NO, I did inhale.  In my early Tweties away at school...though a lot of people use it, I am still one to protest that for a lot of us it just does not work.  For people who suffer with Mental Health issues I believe it does more harm then good!!  Hey and if I sound preachy on the matter...well, I have been there, I give myself the right to discuss this! I used it and fell into the hospital at a very young age, destroying my future career and many other things along the way.  What if you are 16 or so and trying on weed for size, but also have a Mental Illness of sorts.  For one, everyone I hear is different with that drug.  In reality, if you have a Mental Illness and at 16 may not know of it, as scary as that may be.  Trying on pot for size, worsens the illness to a degree sometimes of no recovery.  Also it can trigger an episodic breakdown, the feeling is as worse as any.

I was hospitalized twice because of it and had a Ten or more year battle with getting healthy, mentally and otherwise.  Say you really don't like how pot makes you feel, you don't like the high but have a hard time saying no to your peers.  Trust me, I have had to do that.  You may yes, be looked at differently, not being a drug taker in your group.  You will though earn respect from so many, new friends and even yourself.  I found not doing drugs, I was able to wake up, enjoy everyday, without having to have a fix to make that feel good emotion.

So what happens to people young and older who smoke pot.  There brain waves that occupy that HAPPY feeling stop working regularly, it stops so that when you take that toke, that becomes the indicator on your happy feeling.  What happens when you are out of weed for a stretch...Your Seratonin can not be recreated properly or at all and then the feeling of being blue, unhappy and maybe irritable step in.  Just like any other drug, although some say it is not addictive that happy feeling is!  Then you are hooked, like any other drug.  If you have a Mental Illness it will rear it's ugly-and I mean ugly head sooner, quicker, to a higher degree.

So all the 16 or older people out there, think about how old you are.  Think about your future.  Do you really want to have a life where you need a hit just to wake up smiling in the AM?  1 in 4 people have a mental illness, I hate to say it, what if you are one of them?  What happens if you get hooked on weed, plus the prescribed medication that a doctor has to give you?  That is a combination that reeks havoc on your lifestyle more then you know.  Think, if you are in the hospital you would have to sustain anyways.

I am not concerned with the over 25 age group who have taken Marijuana for years.  My passion lies with the younger generation who still have a chance to make a choice.  You want to feel happy on your own merit don't you?  Don't you want to wake up in the spring bright eyed and glistening able to go for a hike without stopping for that high, when the trees and the nature could easily provide that Happy high all day, everyday?  The road gets rough with Mental Illness...it is much easier to stop the cycle just by saying NO.  I found if you say NO three times in a row you are half way there and people will know your stand point and most likely value it and respect it.

I just know what I have learned over and over, what I have gone through, the many therapies I have been given and learned about over 25+ years.  I would hate to see a teen waist there time and energy on such things.  You don't want that road. Take the high road, not a quick fix high, but the high that can last a lifetime of you getting up everyday, able to produce seratonin levels in your brain on your own.  I have heard many horror stories, seen it with my own eyes.  Do something different, be different.  Don't succumb to a passing drug.  Instead, take care of yourself and others too may follow.

What I have Learned Thus Far

We all learn things here and there, better ways of being, better ways of seeing things and maybe along the way you are able to help someone or many people while continuing to change and grow, helping them in turn change and grow, as they are also a source for you to reflect on change.  I learned a valuable lesson in 2014 one that will take me through the rest of my being.  Years ago I learned how to say No, that was hard for me.  I would feel guilty if someone asked something of me and I could not give and if I did, I would end up empty handed.  I was being guilted into giving. 

This year, although now almost mirrored as a cliche as the New Year is far behind us, my resolution sticks in 2015.  I overcame something that I really did not even know was an issue, ever so slowly though, the issue was growing bigger and bigger.  Now I choose my time wisely, not caught up in the middle of other peoples issues.  Prior, there always seemed to be some crisis, something I was either digging out of, or someone else that I was wrapped up in.  Today I have learned to stay distant from the triggers that would hold me back, hold me down, feeling insecure because of all the crisis of either myself or others.  When in reality, now knowing that other peoples crisis are not my own.  Now, I feel safe to say that I am able to be around the "stress" but with that, I do not give in to the on goings of others.  Really, I had to put my priorities in order.  I really had to put myself first, my health first, my mental health first, family first, my home and loved ones.

I had to come away from the upset and just know that if I want to survive mentally I can not harbour other peoples issues and make them my own.  I am a sensitive being, I have been told that many times.  My Mother can have a friend who is going through a crisis but she does not carry their issue, she is able to help as much as she can without jepeopridising her faith, her conviction, her health or her home.  I wanted that, to stand on the outskirts, still caring but not carrying other peoples emotions.  Now I can really say, that it is very refreshing, turning the other cheek, not getting mixed up and caught up.  Where if I had a bad day at work, it would turn into a bad week, month then year.  One little upset would seriously put me through the ringer. 

I have finally learned how it feels to distant myself from situations that do not serve me.  Now I deal with things when I am ready or not at all if it does not concern me.  Other peoples issues on top of my own was really to much for me to bare. 

Now I can really say that my home is my castle, my time with my loved ones is significant more now then ever, my survival tactics are better, my relationships are ones of ease and respect.  I think that is a milestone in my recovery although I have had many obstacles and many things to help me WANT to grow.  To be able to easily say yay or nay and now to respect myself enough to allow or disallow is effortless.

My Mother says all the time, all you can worry about is you and if I told her about an upset, she would say- "Not Your Problem"  Now I finally got it.