No Coincidences

Tag: word of wisdom

  • Why we REALLY don’t Drink Coffee

    Why we REALLY don’t Drink Coffee

    Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints abstain from tea and coffee, along with other drinks and substances. We refer to this as the “Word of Wisdom.“

    The question often comes up, “Why don’t you drink coffee?” This seems to be the one that really hangs people up. Abstain from cocaine? Makes sense. Alcohol? People can see it. COFFEE?!?!?!!?! People are befuddled.

    This isn’t an easy question to answer, but I wanted to write my thoughts on it. The REAL reason we don’t drink coffee.

    Do we not drink tea and coffee because it makes us healthier? Do we avoid coffee because it’s addictive? Do we avoid coffee for our body’s health?

    Maybe.

    Is that the primary reason we don’t drink coffee?

    NO.

    Why do we pay tithing?

    Why do we partake of the sacrament on Sunday?

    Why do we avoid going to the store or other activities on Sunday?

    Why do we do any number of things the world finds peculiar?

    It’s because we have made covenants with God to obey His commandments. That’s it. That’s why we do what we do. To be obedient to God.

    Maybe it makes us healthier, maybe keeping the sabbath holy renews our spirits, maybe not swearing keeps our minds clean, maybe tithing brings us blessings. But are any of these maybes the real reason we do anything? It shouldn’t be.

    We do these things because we love the Lord and have covenanted to follow Him. End of story. The world might call it restrictive, but from my personal experience, it is the EXACT opposite. It is freedom.

  • Addiction, Freedom, and Satan

    Addiction, Freedom, and Satan

    The title of this post makes pretty clear where this is headed.

    I recently listened to a “Public Service Announcement” at the end of a Hidden Brain podcast episode about resolutions. The podcast had someone on their staff record a message that he would like to share with youth about smoking. Today the dangers of smoking are well documented. Luckily, for children nowadays and future generations, the campaign against smoking has been pretty successful. People definitely aren’t smoking like they were a couple decades ago. But people still smoke. It kind of blows my mind. I’ve written about it before HERE. I can’t emphasize this enough: it blows my mind that people still smoke cigarettes. It makes no sense to me.

    In listening to the long anecdotal PSA about smoking, many thoughts came to mind. Thoughts about the power of this addiction, the power of Satan, and why I’m grateful I never got sucked into that dark habit.

    He started by talking about his Great Aunt who he stole cigarettes from when he started smoking at age 14.

    “My parents and aunts and uncles used to tell us kids when we were little to ask Aunt Do to quit. They thought kids would be more persuasive than they were. I remember one time after nudging, ‘Aunt Do, you shouldn’t smoke,’ she replied, ‘I know honey, but when I think about quitting, I get stressed, and when I get stressed, I smoke more.’

    Loss of control.

    He continued, “Having smoked more than 10 years myself I know how she felt. But smoking clearly cut her life short. It’s a fact that, well, I’m ashamed to admit, hasn’t discouraged my own smoking. The thing is, death is too abstract, lung cancer too far off, and the risk of heart attack too uncertain.”

    Short-term reward versus long-term looking. The world today doesn’t think about 10 years from now, let alone eternity.

    “I’m sure Aunt Do knew, like I do, the risks. That smoking kills little cilia that clean the air for your lungs. That it cuts off the blood flow from to your gums causing your teeth to rot from the inside. That it causes plaque to build up in your arteries leading to stroke and heart attack. A doctor once told me on his smoke break that I just needed to quit before I was 35 and my body could still recover. I’m not sure he was right. I can already hear my laugh sometimes turn into a cough like Aunt Do’s did. But by his measure, I probably have another 10 good years of smoking in front of me. I’m only 25.”

    What is truth?

    “But if you’re 14 and thinking about having your first cigarette, I’m quitting now, and here’s why. Smoking really sucks. Not just when you’re 60 or 70 or 80 if you’re lucky. It sucks when you’re 16, when you’re 20, when you’re 25. Today I can’t run as fast or as far as a nonsmoker. I spend more money on cigarettes than I’d like to think about. But the worst of it are the cravings that come like clockwork even when I’m sleeping.”

    The pull of smoking is extraordinary. He’s going to talk about this more. Visions of Glory talks about individuals who leave this life so addicted to smoking that they continue to linger around this world with the desire to get one more hit of a cigarette. Before you think that’s absurd and completely outlandish and just can’t be true, stop, and think. Do you know anyone so addicted to smoking that when they die it might be the first thing they miss, having a body and the ability to smoke a cigarette? It’s not outlandish to me at all.

    “When you don’t smoke, here’s what you should know. When you’re a smoker life is lived around cigarettes. You’ll be laughing with friends at dinner or totally engrossed in a good book and something will tug at you. And as much as you want to stay in this moment, you’ll be thinking about a cigarette. So, you’ll get up, walk outside, and light up. And it will feel really good. But you’ll wish you were back inside, and you’ll be so tired of trading off these moments for a smoke.”

    More loss of control.

    “If you don’t smoke, you should know that smoking makes a prison out of completely normal situations.”

    Reading his words just made me think about, and appreciate (in a negative way), how powerful Satan is on this earth. He has so much control over individuals through the habits he perpetuates. Of course, the world never looks at it like this. The world says, “I want to smoke so I will” or “I enjoy coffee,” never admitting that they are controlled by these cravings. So many people in this world are contained in prisons of their own choosing.

    “Long flights, concerts, class, anything that lasts longer than a couple hours. These are your enemy, as a smoker. And any time you go on a date, or to a job interview, or to your grandparents’ house, it will be accompanied by a pang of worry. You’ll wash your hands and pull your shirt to your nose and hope they can’t smell smoke. Finally, if you don’t smoke, you should know how hard it is to quit. How much you’ll want to, and fail, to give it up. I’m going to quit on January 1st and to be honest, I’m sad about losing something that’s been a part of my life for so long.”

    How powerful is this poison? So powerful that after describing all the ways smoking is horrible and describing it as “making a prison out of completely normal situations,” he still admits that he’s sad about losing it. This is what I already mentioned. The world says, “I want to smoke,” because admitting you’re a slave to something is much worse.

    “And in the coming weeks without a cigarette, I know the cravings will find a way to twist my reasons for quitting into reasons why I can still smoke. This is the most baffling part of smoking. The way it hijacks your best intentions.”

    “Hijacks your best intentions.” Takes away your control. Takes away your agency.

    “I’ve heard that quitting is the hardest thing a smoker ever does. But also, that whatever pain is meted out in the coming weeks will be totally worth it. Because to be a nonsmoker means to be free to go anywhere and to do anything unencumbered. It means being able to be fully present in each moment if I choose. And so the next time I get on a long flight, or go out to dinner with friends, or see a movie, I won’t be plotting my next cigarette.”

    Quitting is hard. The pain meted out.

    Followed by.

    Worth it. Free. Unencumbered. Fully present.

    It’s striking to me that if any smoker put together a pros and cons of smoking vs nonsmoking the answer would be so obvious. This is exactly what this person was saying. His best intentions are hijacked, he’s in a prison, he can’t think straight when it comes to this addictive poison. Addiction really comes down to one thing. It’s the same thing that was fought over in Heaven before we came here. That one thing is agency, our freedom to choose, our choice. Of course, a smoker always has the choice to quit. All drug addicts have the choice to quit. How many people have we seen incapable of making that choice, no matter how destructive those substances are?

    The same war Satan waged in Heaven, he continues today. He wants to take our agency. He does so through all the tools of the world at his disposal. Those tools include cigarettes, alcohol, other drugs, sports, television, pornography, internet. There are so many addictions out there. This is the war Satan fights with us. He fights to take away our choice. He fights to make us think we have no choice because we need that thing that badly.

    Having spent a large portion of my life addicted, and having that feeling of having no control over what I really want to do, I can now look at this with somewhat of an outside perspective. I’m still fighting some addictions. It’s still a daily struggle choosing good things over mindless things. It’s still a choice every day to use my time to the best of my ability.

    Addiction is powerful and I feel sympathy for anyone caught in its thralls. There is hope, there is choice, there is a way to get away from addiction. We always need help. The power put into addiction from Satan, we need equal power on the other side to be able to conquer our natural inclinations. That power exists. If we turn to that power, to God, and to Christ, who feels and knows all our addictions and how hard it can be, we gain the ultimate reward: freedom.

    Ultimately Christ wants us to be free. That is the battle being fought. We just need to use all our willpower possible to align ourselves with the right, and winning, side. And then we are free.

  • Cigarettes, Coffee, Alcohol

    Cigarettes, Coffee, Alcohol

    Imagine if someone walked up to you, handed you a small stick, and said, “Here, put this in your mouth and inhale. You’ll need to do this every day from now on or else you’ll be irritable and unhappy. You have to do it outside because most people HATE the smell. Also, that smell will linger on your clothes and hair all the time, and again, people hate it. Oh, and it’s going to kill you.”

    Can you imagine ever getting near that thing? Who would take it? It blows my mind that people still smoke.

    Here’s another one, someone walks up to you and hands you a cup, “Drink this. It’s a dark hot liquid that people have convinced themselves tastes good. You’ll need this every morning for the rest of your life or else you won’t be able to function or concentrate in the morning or throughout the day. You’ll need more and more of it as you become dependent on it. First, you’ll only need one cup in the morning. Then you’ll need one in the afternoon. Then you might need two or three cups just to get through the morning and 5-6 cups to get through the day.”

    Who would drink that?

    Here’s another one, someone walks up to you and gives you a big cup, “Drink this. It will taste horrible, it will burn your throat. Then you’ll start to feel woozy and exhilarated. It will last a short time and then you’ll feel like crap. Drink more and your brain will shut down. The next day you will feel worse than you’ve ever felt. You’ll feel like your insides are melting, and they kind of are. What you were drinking was poison. There’s a chance you’ll become dependent on this drink and it will be the only way your brain can feel like it’s having a good time. You’ll need more and more to feel that exhilaration you had the first time, causing you to slowly poison yourself to death.”

    Who would drink that?

    I could go on and on.

    I’m grateful for the word of wisdom. I’m grateful that I got to figure out for myself that I don’t like being addicted to substances. I admire those who never have to find out, and encourage them with all my heart to keep it that way. I’m grateful that I survived some of my addictions.

    I’m grateful for who helped me get through some addictions. Hint – He’s the same person who has given me everything.

  • The Journal Entry of Beth’s Conversion Story

    The Journal Entry of Beth’s Conversion Story

    This is my wife, Beth’s testimony exactly as written.  Names have been changed.

    In a future post I will give some of my thoughts about this, but for now, the power of her testimony should stand on its own, unencumbered by any comments I could hope to make.

    Here it is.

    The Journal Entry of Beth’s Conversion Story

    April 20, 2016

                   I just read my patriarchal blessing for the second time since I got it. It confirmed promptings I’ve been having lately that I should do some journaling for myself and posterity so, even though it is past midnight I felt it better to do this than mindlessly fall asleep to some Netflix show. The past few years have had so much I don’t know how to fit everything I should write to remember. So, because of my failings as a journal writer, it will have to be a highlight reel of life. I just feel some changes that have occurred are too important to neglect to include.

                   I am in my third year at ASU. I love it, I love learning, but my diagnosis with clinical depression in October 2015 has really been a roadblock in my ability to work hard. Luckily, after dropping out for a semester, I’m slowly starting to feel like myself again. I’m not taking medication anymore but I’ve been hiking often and the feeling I get from pushing myself and being physically fit really serves as a great anti-depressant. So I’m back in school with just 9 credit hours, but hard classes. (1920’s senior thesis, history of college sports, and existentialism) I will probably graduate in about a year and do some sort of graduate school program. I previously had been dead set on going to law school. However, I’ve had to rethink my career path after being diagnosed with the depression episode. I don’t really trust myself to be able to go through law school. I always had 100% confidence in my academic capabilities. Now, I’ve taken a real hit to that confidence. My patriarchal blessing does mention that through my righteousness I will have many different career options. That has been comforting.

                   Life has been full of changes the past year. I think the biggest one that I will write on is about the ending of my very serious relationship with John for 2 ½ years and my decision to come back to church. I dated him from senior year of high school all the way up to just short of my 21st birthday. I really thought I loved him. He and I had plans to even get married one day. We were HS sweethearts and he was what I considered my first real love. I feel a real sense of anger at the situation but I also can’t help but think I will always love who he used to be and what we used to have.

    Initially, since about sophomore year of high school, I was set on not being LDS. I didn’t have a testimony of the Book of Mormon, I didn’t believe what the prophets spoke about. I wanted to live contrary to many of the commandments. I never cared to enter the temple. I was prepared to live that life with John too. We were definitely not living by LDS standards and that is exactly what I wanted. I was perfectly happy breaking the word of wisdom and living contrary to the law of chastity, among other things. Our relationship was never perfect. We fought often. He drank. I remember one day he drank so much he wound up in the hospital knocked out. For approximately 5 hours I sat there watching him, angry, upset, feeling betrayed, but wanting to show compassion. He cheated on me many times. I would often find messages on his phone texting other girls. He was perfectly fine with going out and getting drunk with other girls when I wasn’t around. Dramatic scenarios like these were often. I didn’t like who I was when I was with him. But I lost touch with who I used to be or who I could be. And when there were good times, I felt some amazing love. I just started to realize I had a better potential and I deserved better.

                   The changes came slowly at first. I remember when Clark was on his mission, I had one night where I felt so very, extremely alone. Not just physically but much deeper than that. It was dark. I was overcome by hopelessness. It was a feeling I almost lack the ability to explain. I now think it was a result of separating myself so far from the spirit that the light from Christ dimmed. I was prideful. I hadn’t prayed in years. But I did. I prayed in that moment. Desperately. I pleaded with God, please take this feeling from me even though I know I don’t deserve it. Immediately, my fear dissipated and calm overwhelmed me. That was the first time I understood how real prayer was. I wish I could convey that feeling to others. It was painful, scary, optimistic, and inspiring all at once. That was a start.

                   Any institute classes at ASU helped too. I didn’t mind studying the gospel from an intellectual standpoint so I liked going. I read scriptures. I discussed the gospel. I often was so eager to share what I learned with John. Sometimes he’d listen, other times he’d pretend to. It was awkward. I wanted to share what I found profound and he was resistant. But again, there were slow changes creeping in. I was realizing what the words of the gospel could mean. And he was realizing that he wanted nothing to do with it.

                   The real changes began around the start of 2015. I had quit or was about to quit partaking in most of the big sins I had been living in for years. I had already quit drinking and I was ready to cut-off the intimate aspect of my relationship with John. I had an institute class on the Teachings of the Latter-Day Prophets at this time. For some scheduling reason, I missed that class often. To make up absences we had to write papers on general conference talks. (Which I had never listened to previously in my life) So I did it. And that was a blessing in disguise. Again, I took it as an intellectual opportunity, like listening to Gospel TED Talks. At first I learned a lot. But then I began to feel a lot. I studied the atonement. And the friendship and companionship of Christ. I studied talks on being genuine and being compassionate. I began to slowly feel a change of heart, a softening of a heart that had been proud for many years. And even though I thought I was happy before, I started to feel joy. Real joy. And I started to feel love for others. Real Christ-like love. And I started to understand my divine purpose. The real potential I could live up to. Then came the dreams that gave the final push.

                   I’ve had vivid and detailed dreams for a few years now. Often they are silly. But often they are profound. Sometimes they even come true. I know that for many of us, the spirit speaks to us in dreams. For context, it is important to know I never wanted to get married in the temple before in my life and I never had been the kind of girl to dream excessively of my wedding day either. However, I had about four dreams where I was walking out of the temple in a white dress looking happier than I’d ever been lovingly holding the hand of a man. These dreams always ended right before I saw the face of the man I married. One night, I had the fifth identical dream but this time the man was John.

                   In addition, I had another dream that my friend Mike was home from his mission, in white, crying and saying how proud he was while hugging another person dressed in white. As he turned around it became clear it was John on his baptism day! So with these dreams I thought I knew what it meant! John and I would change our ways, repent, convert, and live happily ever after.

                   But of course that isn’t what happened. As a side note, I now have a different interpretation of those dreams. I think God was showing me what could be. What I should want to be. And as I saw that possibility play out in my dreams but realized that it could not be a reality in real life I had to consider what I truly wanted and expected for myself. After I broke up with John I had the wedding dream only once more. It was once again identical to the dreams before. But I saw the man I was going to marry. It isn’t like I could list a particular physical look I had for him but it’s as if I knew who he was anyway. As if the trust and love I had for him made me know him. And it made me desire so much to strive to one day be endowed so that I will get to marry that man and walk out of the temple with him one day. That was the first time I wanted to go through the temple. I now hope to be endowed and sealed one day.

    So after these dreams I tried to appeal to John, first by asking him to quit drinking. I wanted so badly to have the life I thought I knew we could have. But we were sent here with free will and someone needs to want to change in order to truly change. He did not want to change. The last few months were devastating. I thought I loved John, I was otherwise so happy, but my relationship was suffering. I was starting to open up to the gospel, to build a relationship with Christ. I was doing well in school, I was making many friends. But we had diverged. Thankfully I was blessed to be given so many obvious signs of what was right that I knew without any doubt there was no turning back from the Gospel at this point. I either go forward with this change next to John or I go forward without him. But I had to go forward And so June came, he sat on my front doorstep. We talked kindly but distanced. And that was it. I was sad. The man I thought I loved was gone. But inexplicably I felt so at peace. It felt okay. I felt optimistic. I sensed a hard path ahead but I knew it was going to be worth it.

                   So here I am with that journey under my belt. It has left me at times feeling damaged. I’m generally a confident person but I took a real hit to my self worth after this. The depression has made me feel like I’m not as smart or capable as I thought I was. My failed relationship made me feel I’m not worth someone’s loyalty or commitment That no matter how pretty or smart or funny or confident they think I am that a life with me wasn’t worth giving up something as trivial as alcohol. That my friends weren’t wiling to stick around when I chose to give up sin and follow Christ. But the gospel keeps me going.

                   I can’t wait to love someone that chooses to love me fully back. I hope one day I can trust myself to do that. I hope one day I can give 100% of my love and feel it back. I want to trust that I’m worth someone’s loyalty. I want to trust I’m worth a righteous man. I pray to become better through this trial so I can be worth it one day.

    And in the end of this trial I realize I’m grateful for it. I look to those times where I was given a sign and a testimony loud and clear when I’m beginning to doubt. And I’ve doubted. I was proud enough to think blessings would rain down on me immediately after this big step. They didn’t, at least not in the form I had expected. I’ve dated in the YSA ward but there hasn’t been anyone I’m seriously in to. In fact I almost find myself incapable of emotionally attaching to anyone. I’ve dealt with crippling depression. I lost friends. People decided they would choose John over me. They decided it was better to have the partying John than the sober Beth. I lost direction in my career path. But among all these trials I now understand what is temporary and what is eternal. It was the most alone I had ever felt. But I finally knew I wasn’t really ever alone.

                   I had to go through my own repentance process with the bishop. (Farnsworth then Thurston) It was scary. But I now love and feel the atonement for real. Every time I pray, I thank Heavenly Father for Christ’s atonement. I needed the atonement then, and I need it now. My testimony in the atonement holds me over when my testimony in other aspects is less stable. My testimony of the eternal nature of being is so strong. My testimony of Christ’s personal relationship to us through prayer is tangible.

                   I love Christ. I feel him there because he knows my pain. He’s been my friend when all hope was gone. I’m not completely myself again but I find joy in reaching out to those who I sense also feel alone, damaged, or scared. My trial has given me an ability to reach out to those in pain just as Christ does. And I feel real, Christ-like love that I’ve never felt before. I look at people with a new light now because of it.  I try to understand the principle of forgiveness because I need it. I long to maintain an eternal perspective because I knew what challenges there were to face on Earth yet I boldly said I was ready to do it. And I will continue to do so.

                   I look forward to the day I can look back and understand the ‘why’ of my experiences and trials. But for now I will press on with hope and gratitude. I know my Savior lives. I hope I never doubt it! I hope I never forget. I am so grateful for the hard times. I’m grateful for humility and for this clarity. I’m so grateful for my story.

    Elisabeth Brooke Cannon

  • Drugs

    Drugs

    *Author’s note:  I asked Beth to proofread this before sharing.  I put off posting it for weeks because of my hesitation in sharing something like this about my past.  Beth’s response, “Why wouldn’t you share it?  It’s what got you here.”

    “Cocaine takes your soul.”  A statement I heard a while back on a podcast.

    I’ve long wanted to write a “drugs” post, but I haven’t known how to approach it. It was a big step for me to start sharing publicly about how I used to drink.  Now I use my past experiences with drinking to understand the struggles others can have because I’ve been there.  It makes me really uncomfortable to share something like, “I used to do drugs.”  Vulnerability, uncertainty at how people I love will take this information, Ivy reading this one day… Admitting something like that was never something I thought I’d do.  But Beth’s comment was right.  Those choices led to where I am today, so why not share it?  If I’ve truly changed, why do those past decisions matter that much?  If I truly believe Christ has washed away my sins through His Atonement, what am I hiding?  Maybe somebody can benefit from my experience. 

    So, before I continue, let’s get this part out of the way: All my LDS friends and family take your moment to *gasp.  All my college friends and family take your laugh (that some of my friends and family never knew this about me).

    I bounced back and forth with writing a generic, boring post about how drugs are bad.  Really, we’ve heard that before.  What can really make a difference, I think, is my personal experience with drugs.  In the Church (of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), along with other churches, I think talking about past drinking or drug use is pretty taboo.  It’s like many other topics I want to write about and haven’t yet addressed.  Where I come from, how I was raised, I kind of adhere to the ‘pretend like it doesn’t exist’ camp.  Drugs?  How about we not discuss it. 

    But then recently my 13-year-old brother mentioned a kid coming to his soccer practice clearly high.  First thought, “My youngest brother is exposed to weed already????”  Then I realized, he’s 13, of course he’s exposed to it.  I know a lot of kids that started experimenting with drugs at 13.  It’s crazy to think my youngest brother is 13.  It’s crazier more to realize it when he talks about the drug use around him.  Drug use is happening.  In the world we live in today, it’s more prevalent than ever.  If we stick our head in the ground, refuse to talk to our kids about it, and pretend like it’s not happening, someone else is talking to them about it.  News flash parents:  Your most sheltered latter-day saint babies have seen, heard of, been around, and maybe even experienced drug use.

    If I was seeing it in 2003 (I’m old), you better believe 13-year-olds are seeing it in 2021.  Recently I drove down a street in Las Vegas near my old home.  A street I’d driven down many times.  I did a double take when I passed what I can only describe as a big, bright, pot emporium.  Drugs are becoming mainstream.  A scary thought.

    So what are my experiences with drugs?

    First let me say, I was lucky that drugs never quite became like alcohol for me.  I don’t think drugs ever controlled me the way alcohol did.  I think part of that is luck in never trying the wrong substance.  There was a time when I was on a precarious cliff, one wrong step could have led to debilitating and life destroying addiction. 

    I’m going to try my best to be as ambiguous as possible about my drug use for obvious reasons.  By that I mean, I’m not going to tell you what drugs I have done (it’s not many).  But sometimes I may be clear about drugs I haven’t done.  For example, I never tried cocaine.  I had to say that since you’ve probably been wondering that since you read the first line. 

    What’s my experience?

    From a very young age I was aggressively opposed to any substance I believed was bad.  Legend has it I used to pour out my mom’s Coca Cola’s.  Growing up I always said I would never drink alcohol.  When asked I would say it was due to my faith and the Word of Wisdom.  The Word of Wisdom, for those who don’t know, is guidance provided by the Lord to Joseph Smith in 1833 about what should and should not be put into the body.  Over the years the Word of Wisdom, as followed by many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has adapted and changed.  This is a natural occurrence.  Joseph Smith wasn’t yet warned about vape pens and methamphetamines in the 1830s.  I encourage everyone who wants to learn more to read Doctrine and Covenants Section 89.

    My excuse for not drinking or partaking in drugs was always the Word of Wisdom.  Like I said, from a very young age I remember taking that guidance very seriously.  As I grew up, and my church activity waned, that excuse changed to, “I’m an athlete.”  In high school “no thanks” seldomly worked.  You needed a reason.  Similar to Happy Hours across the country today, most of the time you can’t just say no.

    So what happened when I had neither?  What happened when my church activity was zero and I was no longer an athlete after high school?  It’s amazing how soon after losing those two identities that I waivered on this principle I had stuck so firmly to.

    I still remember my first sip of alcohol.  It was a big moment.  We laugh at the joke that meth addiction starts with one puff or one sip, but doesn’t it?  Of course, there are exceptions, but would someone who has never had a sip of alcohol try a harder, more dangerous substance?  Usually not. 

    What happened after I’d taken one sip?  Well, my excuses of church and basketball were no longer existent, I no longer had my shield against peer pressure.  It’s no wonder when I went off to college for the first time I started drinking, then trying other stuff. 

    I was never a big drug user, as previously stated.  Most of what I tried wouldn’t even be considered drugs by most people today.  That’s the problem though, isn’t it?  Drugs are drugs.  Marijuana is a drug.  It is habit forming, it changes your focus, it changes what you care about, and ultimately it changes you. 

    I had some extremely, extremely scary experiences with drugs.  The last time for a particular substance I said would be the last time I’d try anything.  Being stuck in your mind is a terrifying thing, there is no escape.  These substances are mind-altering.  Sometimes they’re mind entrapping. 

    This is the point I want to get across and I think is important.  It’s the point I make to anyone who asks about certain drugs or drug use.  You almost never know what you’re putting into your body and it’s often from a sketchy source.  What happens when you can’t escape your mind and you think something will never end?  I had a friend once tell me he considered killing himself one time during a particularly bad drug experience.  My thought was, “why would you put that in your body????”  Then, years later I had that something in my body. If it wasn’t for very trusted and caring friends being around me to calm me down, who knows what could have happened. Never before in my life had jumping off a balcony crossed my mind. It did that day. Drugs are not a joke.  This is the message, more than anything I’d like to get across.

    I consider myself lucky that I avoided most of the more dangerous and addictive substances out there.  I never touched a cigarette.  I was too afraid it would become a habit.  That fear kept me from putting myself in a dangerous position with many other drugs.  I was always afraid of man-made, synthetic substances.  I was raised to believe that man was conspiring against my freedom (D&C 89:4) and I believe that might have saved my life.

    How am I with drugs today?

    When I had my accident, they tried to prescribe me some sort of Oxy something or another pain medication.  I refused.  I got over the counter Advil and avoided taking that as much as I could.  I saw too many friends almost kill themselves over those pills.  I hope I can avoid ever touching one.

    Today I’ve cut out drugs, alcohol, caffeine, and juice.  Yes, juice.  I feel happier and healthier for it.  I see coworkers come into the office and walk like zombies to the coffee machine first thing in the morning.  I’ve never had that crutch and I never will.

    People talk about the Word of Wisdom like it takes away your freedom.  My experience tells me that drugs and alcohol, and yes, even caffeine take away our freedom, not expand it.  How many people can’t start their day without coffee?  How many people can’t start their weekend without liquor?  How many people are enslaved by substance abuse?

    I am so grateful for my upbringing and the protection I had against these dangerous substances in my life.  Even when I dabbled, I escaped the direst consequences.  I was lucky.  Why chance it?  I’m happier today than I’ve ever been now that I depend on no substance for that happiness.  The Word of Wisdom is a protection and despite my slip-ups through my growth, it did protect me, and I’m grateful for it.