friends and life in general...

[blazer1]

Hi.

My group of friends are friends who are stuck in the world of drugs, my friends and I party, do drugs together and smoke marijuana together everyday.

This group of people are the only ones close to me, I have known them since High School and they know me better than anyone else.

The problem is I want to get away from the lifestyle and aspirations they have, I have big dreams, I dont want to smoke marijuana all my life and die like a junkie.

So i distant myself from them, and when I am by myself at home, listening to old music, it reminds me of nothing but where I come from, people I know, my past.

I feel lonely when I reminisce because I am trying to move away from my junkie friends. Yet, they are the only ones I have an identity with.

Am I just being a fool thinking they are the only friends I have and will have, or do they serve some purpose to my existence?

I believe knowing people for a long time is something that cannot be replaced by anything.

please help, because anything which reminds me of the past only saddens me.

I wish to make every tommorow happier than yesterday.

[Rockchick26]

I had a pretty big tight knit bunch of friends from the time i was 19 until about 30 or 31,somewhere in there. When i was losing them one by one,it felt like members of my family were betraying me. I thought i'll never have this again. I hate to say this,but i was right. Now i have way fewer friends,and most of them dont even know each other,so theyre not a group,like i had. I miss it,and it does make me sad to remember it,and look back through the pictures,etc. But its part of life and you have to just be happy you had them for the time that you did. Or,you dont have to dump them completely,just do your own thing once in a while,but still keep in touch. Things will probably feel wierd and you'll drift apart,but your dreams and future are more important than your friends. You will most likely make all new friends someday,too.

[Firefighter469]

It sounds like I was in the same boat that you were in about six years ago. I was a part of a group of potheads where I grew up too. I wanted more from life and it seemed like all they wanted to do was smoke weed and do nothing all day. Believe me, there is so much more in the world than what they can offer you. You will make new friends, but it probably will take some time, you need to be very patient and stay away from that junk at all costs. It is VERY easy to get sucked back into it again. It may take only a month for that stuff to clear out of your urine, but it may take a year or more for it to clear out of your brain. It will be difficult to focus and remember things for a while.

You need to find yourself again. Start rebuilding your life where you left off before the drugs took over. What kinds of things did you enjoy doing as a kid? Maybe you still enjoy them, you just forgot. Build your interests up from there. I loved to jog when I was a kid, so I started to jog again, and I love it still. I even have a small circle of friends that get together and run around the city. And I loved computers and now I have a small circle of friends that I'm hoping to start a business with soon. There are people out there that will be your friend for who you are, not just that you're holding weed for them or are always the one with a lighter.

[Alison Jenkins]

If you want to let go of the drugs then it does mean moving on from these friends. I know many people in recovery from drug addiction and they have broken free, found new real friends and changed their whole lives. Have you thought about going to a 12 step programme like NA (narcotics anonymous) as here you will meet many people who have gone through the same thing.

Alison

[Ree]

To break old habits it certainly helps to replace them with new activities. So get out into the wonderful world and find something new and different to do. What are your interests? Do you like animals? Volunteer at your local shelter! Like theater? Offer to prompt at your community theater. There's lots of possibilities. Soon you'll be so busy you won't have time to sit and reminisce so much AND as a bonus, you'll meet lots of new folks with whom you'll have lots in common!

You'll always have the memories of the times you had with your old gang, both good and bad ones. Take that for what it is and move on!

Good luck!

[moriez]

Me too understand where you coming from. I had friends and they had friends doing drugs. I thought of them as real friends but in fact they were not my kind of people and not at all good for my mental health. I was just lonely and didnt see that back then. The drugs clouded that also. Well, in the end I had to let some of these people go who I then considered good/very good friends. I needed help from others to make me realise that but I am glad I did. Someone wise told me: better to be alone and happy then together and miserable. And thats one I cherish. Go for it, cut loose and embrace new possibilities if this lifestyle is holding you down.

[Akasha]

Have you asked any of them if they feel the same way that you do? Maybe one or two of them have secretly been trying to break free from the drugs too, but the pull of peer pressure has been too much. It can't hurt to ask, right?