Living Clean Research Paper

The Effects of Living Clean I grew up in the average middle class American family, but always felt like something was different with me. I made good grades throughout elementary school, but middle school is where things started to go wrong. I started to worry about what everyone thought of me and started to hang out with the popular crowd. This lead to me trying to fit in with them and in doing so was the first time that I used drugs. It started out with smoking marijuana, but graduated quickly to other drugs like cocaine and extract. I then started to use drugs not only to fit in, but also to cover up my feelings. As a teenager who was unemployed, it was difficult to obtain the money to support my habit so I, like so many other drug addicts, …show more content…
I stole from family, friends, and people that I didn’t know. It didn’t matter who you were, if the opportunity arose for me to profit from you in some way, I would. This meant lying to the people closest to me. I felt like I had a moral failing. By living clean I have been able to bring my self-esteem up. I was told by a friend, “If you want self-esteem, do esteemable things.” I help others with random acts of kindness. I don’t do things anymore if I feel they aren’t the right thing to do. Even when I know I could get away with doing something wrong, I don’t, because even if no one else knows, I know, and that would diminish my self-esteem all over again. Today, I can actually say that I feel good about myself. In active addiction, my financial status was usually broke, or close to it. If I had money, I spent the money on drugs, until I ran out. Living clean has given me the ability to own a company and learn how to properly manage money. No longer do I have to wonder how I am going to pay my bills, or keep a roof over my head. I have a savings account with money in it that I don’t feel the need to go and blow on my next fix. I value money more now, as I now earn it in a legal and acceptable