THE LIFE THAT I REGRET



My name is Stephen Monet and I want to tell about a part of my life that I truly regret. This is my own story, nothing is false. It is all the truth and I feel that if I can tell my story and help someone help their own life, then it will be worth it.

About eight or nine years ago, I picked up a bad habit. I started smoking. Some people think that that is cool, or that they blame it on their family or what you have, but the truth is that it is a load of crap. the truth is that it is your own decision to start smoking. It is not your friend's decision or your family's. But that is not what this is about. I'm not trying to lecture anybody on anything so I'll drop it.

The part of my life that I really regret is when I started doing drugs. Yes drugs, D.R.U.G.S. I was about twelve years old when I had my first joint. I thought that being high was the greatest feeling in the world. The truth is that now I realize that it wasn't. All it does is kill your brain cells, something that won't grow back. I used to do really good in school before I started using. But I fried too many brain cells and I find school harder than I should. I can't concentrate and even simple work like multiplying, writing and spelling are too hard to do. People who think drugs are really cool are just stupid.

Drugs ruin your life, like they did mine. I used to 'smoke up' all the time, 5 or 6 times a week. My grades went down, my friends left me too, as did my health.

I would just like to say that since I joined a drug dependency group through my school, called the Youth Support Foundation, I have been really hard to stay 'clean'. I have been 'clean' since the middle of September when I overdosed on what I think was a hydro-crack combination. I was rushed to the hospital during school time from a near-by place. I was hooked up to a blood pressure machine and had a heart monitor. It was the scariest time in my life. I felt like I was going to die.

That's when I joined Youth Support and I've been 'clean' ever since. That was the middle of September in '97 and now it is the middle of May in '98. The Youth Support Foundation now nominated me for an award to be presented by the Lt.Governor in Halifax on May 25th, 1998. I am very pleased and proud with myself that I am able to turn my life around and stay clean that long. but it just goes to show you that if you have the will power, you can do it.

To anybody who is thinking about using drugs, please don't. And anybody who wants to rid themselves of this hassle, and has recognized that they need help, please seek it out. It would be the best thing they could do. You'll thank yourself when you're walking through the graveyard instead of lying in it.

STEPHEN MONET