Hi GAF! It pains me to say that this is my final thread here. As the title indicates, my parents have found my GAF account. But before leaving, I figured the least I could do would be to give you all the story that led up to this.
BACKGROUND
I come from a great family. Ive had a very stable and nurturing upbringing, and am fortunate enough to have parents that genuinely love and would do anything for their children. I was raised as a Christian, and for a long time I was a devout follower. In fact, three years ago I spent the summer reading through the entire New Testament while taking an accompanying seminary-level online college course. I applied at Moody Bible Institute shortly thereafter, my ultimate goal being to become a faithful pastor and one day maybe even plant my own church. I loved God and wanted to do my absolute best to be a faithful servant throughout my life.
Even with all of the passion I had for my beliefs, I had always struggled with doubt. My mind works in a very logical and analytical way, and even most Christians I know admit that some stories in the Bible are a hard pill to swallow. However, you simply need to have faith that God knows more than the human mind, and just because we cant comprehend something doesnt mean it didnt happen or isnt true. This is the line of thinking I would desperately try to hold on to during my times of questioning. After all, if an all-powerful being does exist, he certainly would have the ability to create a talking snake or to flood the entire world or create humanity out of dust.
As time went on though, I realized more and more just how unlikely and fabricated The Bible seemed. And as much as I would study apologetics, all of the evidence for the inerrancy of The Bible seemed incredibly circumstantial and open to interpretation. To make a long story short, after much studying and research, I concluded that there was no logical way for my mind to hold on to the same beliefs, as the evidence simply wasnt there. I went through a period of about 10 months of hopelessness where everything felt empty and devoid of meaning. Its probably hard to relate to this for someone who has never had religion ingrained in them as a child, but losing the only hope for eternal life in such a bleak world can be an incredibly difficult process.
A couple months before my nihilistic phase, I first tried marijuana. I had done my homework on it, and was incredibly surprised to discover just how harmless it was. I felt no guilt in giving it a shot. I absolutely loved it, and just a few months after my first experience with it I was smoking it daily in my room. But as harmless as weed is, anything can be misused. Once I lost the crutch of religion, getting high became my method for coping with the harsh realities of the world that I was just now discovering. There is no afterlife, no eternal hope, no justice for all the evildoers in the world, and no being that loves and accepts you unconditionally and that is always with you. For the first time in my life, I felt truly alone. Every conscious minute of life I was all too aware of this, and so weed became the one escape from that thought process. I would always be so eager to smoke at the end of the day, just so I could have a couple hours where my mind was at rest and not thinking of how fucked everything is. And as unhealthy as any addiction can be, if it WERENT for that coping mechanism, who knows what sort of real trouble I would have gotten myself into.
After a good long while, I came to grips with my new beliefs. I realized that life could still have meaning; you just have to make the effort to establish and understand the things that are truly important to you. Once I got to this acceptance phase, I was still smoking all the time, but it was because I enjoyed it and not because I had to have it.
Then some girl troubles cropped up, and it was back to using it as a crutch. Again though, my habits never CHANGED, just my motives. And I was using responsibly. Last year, I did very well in school (straight Bs), made huge improvements in my work ethic at my job and was never late nor called in, and I also lost 45 lbs. All while getting high every single day. While it may not have been the healthiest habit for overall mental stability, I certainly wasnt letting it interfere with the responsibilities I had in life.
So, essentially, for two years I was hiding a ton of who I was from my parents. They had no idea that I was both an atheist and a stoner. To them, I was still a good Christian boy that would never even dream of touching a drug.
And all the while, I was posting everything about me on GAF. I didnt have many outlets in the real world to discuss a lot of the problems and issues I was dealing with, nor did I have many people to enthusiastically discuss my new hobby. So, under the security of anonymity, I would openly talk about most aspects of my life here. Little did I know
THE FALLOUT
I turned 21 just a couple weeks ago. As any respectable partier would do, I got hammered with my friends basically every night for that first week. While my parents knew I drank at college, they began to get worried because I was going out so often. I tried to explain that I had planned on getting smashed a ton during my first couple weeks of being 21, particularly since my birthday occurred over Christmas break and so I didnt have any other responsibilities to worry about, but naturally they were still concerned with the excess.
So, one night, after walking home drunk, I go up into my room to find my parents in my room going through my laptop. What is going on? I ask. Through her tears my mom said, Your father and I are reading about your atheism and pot smoking on that disgusting forum you post on
SHIT. They had gone through my internet history. For a good while, one of my absolute worst fears was having my parents find my GAF account. As I previously mentioned, I didnt hide much when posting here. And the things I posted where things I would NEVER want my family to read. After all, if I wanted to talk to them about the stuff I was posting on GAF I wouldnt have intentionally worked so hard to keep everything a secret.
Do you have marijuana in your locker? my dad asks. Yes I reply. Open it right now. I refuse. He asks again. I still refuse. And in my drunken stupidity, I hatch a very half-assed scheme. I text a friend, telling him he needs to come pick me up immediately. He says he is on his way. While Im trying to stall for time, my dad is going down to get tools to DISMANTLE MY LOCKER, since Im refusing to open it. After I can stall no longer, I get the key, open the locker door. I immediately grab my weed and my vaporizer and try to dash to the door. My plan was to grab the drugs and run outside, where my friend would be waiting for my escape. In hindsight, it is actually pretty fucking hilarious that I ever thought it would work :lol As soon as I started running my dad tackled me on my bed and they took everything. I then left with my friend to cool down for a while
The next few days were really fucking bad. My parents were beyond hurt, having to process the thought that their son was both a drug user and going to burn in hell for eternity. But one of the worst parts was coming home each night to find my mom on the computer, systematically going through everything I had ever posted on GAF. I mentioned in the Marijuana thread once that I was psychologically addicted, and because of that my parents want me to go to drug counseling. And beyond that, there were just a ton of fucking cringe worthy moments I had to sit through as she brought up so many things I posted in the past. Do you know how awkward it is to have your mom crying while saying And what about this post?? I wanna slap that milk chocolatey ass! How could you be so vulgar and disrespectful?? Hilarious to any outsider Im sure, but not enjoyable to go through
I went through and deleted most of the particularly scandalous posts, but thanks to GAFs quote feature my parents saw it all anyway :lol
THE FRUSTRATION
So many things about this whole situation pissed me off. For starters, I felt like it was a huge invasion of privacy for my parents to go through my laptop. My moms defense was We knew something was up with you, but you wouldnt tell us, so we had to find out on our own! In reality its my own fucking fault for not logging out of my desktop when I left the house (a mistake Ill be sure to never make again). A couple days after the incident, I came into my room to see that my locker had been gone through again. I had given them everything I had, but knowing that my room was being searched when I wasnt around once again felt like a big breach of privacy. I had/have nothing else to hide, but it was kind of a principle issue. I didnt feel comfortable in my own space anymore. To be fair, they obviously own the house so it really isnt my room, but it felt like my safe haven for so long that having that comfort stripped away from me was just another unpleasant adjustment I had to make through this whole situation.
Then came the pot arguments. The entirety of my justification was centered around how harmless it was, and how I give exactly zero shits that it is illegal because I get one life to enjoy and Im not going to let corrupt and genuinely ignorant politicians prevent me from doing something that gives me happiness and enjoyment. Pot isnt harmless, trust me, Ive seen what it can do to people was essentially what my mom was saying. However, every time I asked her to back this up with any sort of evidence she would claim I dont have to, you already have your mind made up that its harmless because its your drug of choice. OF COURSE you arent going to think there is anything wrong with it. Actually mom, I can show you mountains of scientific evidence to back up my claims. Id be more than willing to compile a bunch of data and show you. She refused. When I told her I would be very open to revising my stance if she could show me any evidence that weed IS harmful, she said it would be futile. Needless to say, that is one of the most inefficient ways to argue a point. Blatantly disregarding facts and being unwilling to provide ANY sort of evidence or support for your own viewpoint is in no way convincing to the opposing side. I also told her there is no way in hell I would ever go to drug counseling for weed, no matter what they threatened with (not that they were threatening with anything to get me to go). But they DID threaten to stop helping me pay for college if I ever do it again. As they put it: If you have enough money to spend on drugs, you can pay your for your own education! (Because weed and college are the exact same fucking price!). So, after being a stoner for a year and a half, I cant get high again until Im financially independent out living on my own. If I get caught, they will literally cut off tens of thousands of dollars of financial support. And as much as I love weed, it isnt worth the astronomically disproportional punishment Ill get from them if I get caught. My college party years I guess will now only consist of booze (a much healthier alternative!
)
What was even more frustrating than the drug arguments though were the atheism arguments. After explaining to my mom that I dont believe in God because there is no evidence to support that belief, she literally said, Of course there is no evidence for God, and there never will be, which is why you just have to have faith! Im not sure any comments are even needed on that. She also made ludicrous suggestions that Im so miserable because I chose to turn my back on God and stop believing, and that all I need to do is choose to believe in him again and I wont have to worry about the emptiness of a hopeless world. I was, and still am, kind of shocked with the mental gymnastics some of these religious arguments require. I keep imagining someone who has never encountered the idea of religion before and somebody going up to them and saying HEY! There is no evidence for the God I believe in, but you should believe in him anyway or you will burn in hell forever! It is an incredibly irrational way to think, but I understand the desire to do whatever it takes to hold on to comforting beliefs. As unconvincing as any of the arguments to me are, my mom really wants me to meet with the pastor of their church, and so I agreed to it. That should be happening within the next couple of weeks.
The bright side to all of this is that my parents and I are getting along fine again. They are still very hurt and worried about me (all of my depression came out during this whole ordeal, and they feel terrible they werent there to help me through it which is kind of silly since I intentionally kept it hidden from them and they had no idea it was going on). Im going to be getting a therapist soon, which will be good. And in the meantime, its a new semester at university. Im in a major now that Im very happy with, I have amazing friends here, and Im going to be putting a lot of effort into making a lot of personal progress in 2011.
LESSONS LEARNED
1. ALWAYS be careful when posting anonymously online if there is every any chance someone you know and wouldnt want reading your posts could end up reading everything you write. Seriously, this was like a wikileaks level of sensitive information exposure (now I know how the world governments feel). And ALWAYS LOG OUT OF YOUR DESKTOP WHEN OTHER PEOPLE ARE AROUND! This is probably basic common sense, but I learned the hard way
2. Appreciate what you have, while you have it. I took for granted my excellent set up of having a comfortable place to get high every day. I had my comfy bed, my laptop, TV, video games, a fridge full of food, basically anything an avid herbal enthusiast could want. It was relaxing, it was awesome, and Im going to miss it. Obviously Im using my specific example as a broader lesson so whatever you enjoy in life, realize it will end at some point, so be thankful while you can still experience it.
3. Realize there are bright sides to every situation. I could easily get caught up in an unhealthy pattern of dwelling only on the negatives of the situation. I cant smoke weed any more! My privacy was invaded! I have to deal with a bunch of unnecessary stress with the family now! People are forcing policies onto me that I dont agree with! Instead, Im trying to focus on all of the benefits. Ill save a shit ton of money! I no longer have to hide who I am around those I love most! I learned a lot from the situation and will be better equipped in the future!
4. What doesnt kill you makes you stronger. Ive been through a lot of shit these past couple of years, but you know what? Im so much better today, as a person, than I ever would have been had some of these things never happened. And ultimately, self-progress and satisfaction is one of the only truly important ways to measure a successful life. After all, the ONLY common denominator throughout everything you experience in life is yourself. From birth do death, no matter the activity, YOU are going to be the one going through it, so you better damn well make sure you become someone that satisfies whatever standards you have for life. Learning to be comfortable and happy with who I am was one of the most liberating things Ive experienced. And even beyond that, learning healthy ways to think through and take action during bad situations is crucial. I know GAF is filled with plenty of depressed and unhappy people, many of whom cant afford therapy, so to that end I recommend this book. Out of all the self-help theories and books I've checked out, this one has by far been the most helpful.
THANKS, GAF
Ill stick around this thread for a short while so I can participate in the discussion, but after this thread has run its course Ill be asking for a perma-ban. Im sure my parents will be monitoring this username from now on, and I have no desire to post here if they are going to read everything I say. It is almost six years to the day that I first came up with the online moniker of EzLink, so this is kind of sad, but at the same time I always hated the name anyway :lol
This is a great community. I <3 you guys, I really do. Not only has GAF provided ceaseless entertainment these past couple of years, but I have also gotten some genuinely helpful advice and have had many views and beliefs challenged by the intellectually stimulating conversations that sometimes take place here.
Three threads in particular I want to draw attention to. The Metal Thread has been an incredible resource, introducing me to so many terrific bands that I otherwise never would have heard of. Keep up the excellent recommendations, because Im sure Ill continue to read the posts there
Next, the Marijuana thread. Yes, posting in it came back to bite me in the ass, but I had a great time swapping high stories with everyone. And I cant thank you guys enough for recommending the Magic Flight Launch Box (may mine Rest In Peace
). Most of you seem to be the friendly and responsible stoner type, which is one of the more effective tools in helping change the minds of people still stuck in the prohibition mindset. And since Im no longer going to be able to partake in the hobby for several years, dedicate your next bowl to me, okay?
Finally, Combines original Girl-Age thread. Before that thread, I was fucking clueless when it came to talking to women. I would get nervous and be unable to hold a conversation with any girl even remotely attractive. Thanks to all of the solid advice and guidelines in that thread, I have done a complete turnaround. The advice hasnt just helped me talk to girls, but people in general. I can easily go up to a stranger now and have an engaging conversation, whether male or female, old or young, ugly or not. And I can trace it all back to that thread. This is one thread on GAF that I can truly say was life-changing.
On a final note, my parents will probably end up reading this thread. Be nice. As I said, they are absolutely wonderful people, and I have a ton of respect for how much they sacrifice for their children. And while it certainly does suck that we dont see eye to eye on important issues, at least I have a loving and supportive family that will always be there for me, which is a hell of a lot more than most people can say. I really am grateful for that. And even though they have some positions that are illogical, they arent unintelligent people. So please, dont badmouth them.
Alright GAF, that about wraps it up. This entire post is going to come across as melodramatic and unnecessarily lengthy to some of you, but I wanted to be thorough, especially since everything that happened is due to this website (and my inability to log out of my computer :lol). I hope at the very least my stressful situation was able to provide an entertaining story.
THREE CHEERS FOR GAF!
BACKGROUND
I come from a great family. Ive had a very stable and nurturing upbringing, and am fortunate enough to have parents that genuinely love and would do anything for their children. I was raised as a Christian, and for a long time I was a devout follower. In fact, three years ago I spent the summer reading through the entire New Testament while taking an accompanying seminary-level online college course. I applied at Moody Bible Institute shortly thereafter, my ultimate goal being to become a faithful pastor and one day maybe even plant my own church. I loved God and wanted to do my absolute best to be a faithful servant throughout my life.
Even with all of the passion I had for my beliefs, I had always struggled with doubt. My mind works in a very logical and analytical way, and even most Christians I know admit that some stories in the Bible are a hard pill to swallow. However, you simply need to have faith that God knows more than the human mind, and just because we cant comprehend something doesnt mean it didnt happen or isnt true. This is the line of thinking I would desperately try to hold on to during my times of questioning. After all, if an all-powerful being does exist, he certainly would have the ability to create a talking snake or to flood the entire world or create humanity out of dust.
As time went on though, I realized more and more just how unlikely and fabricated The Bible seemed. And as much as I would study apologetics, all of the evidence for the inerrancy of The Bible seemed incredibly circumstantial and open to interpretation. To make a long story short, after much studying and research, I concluded that there was no logical way for my mind to hold on to the same beliefs, as the evidence simply wasnt there. I went through a period of about 10 months of hopelessness where everything felt empty and devoid of meaning. Its probably hard to relate to this for someone who has never had religion ingrained in them as a child, but losing the only hope for eternal life in such a bleak world can be an incredibly difficult process.
A couple months before my nihilistic phase, I first tried marijuana. I had done my homework on it, and was incredibly surprised to discover just how harmless it was. I felt no guilt in giving it a shot. I absolutely loved it, and just a few months after my first experience with it I was smoking it daily in my room. But as harmless as weed is, anything can be misused. Once I lost the crutch of religion, getting high became my method for coping with the harsh realities of the world that I was just now discovering. There is no afterlife, no eternal hope, no justice for all the evildoers in the world, and no being that loves and accepts you unconditionally and that is always with you. For the first time in my life, I felt truly alone. Every conscious minute of life I was all too aware of this, and so weed became the one escape from that thought process. I would always be so eager to smoke at the end of the day, just so I could have a couple hours where my mind was at rest and not thinking of how fucked everything is. And as unhealthy as any addiction can be, if it WERENT for that coping mechanism, who knows what sort of real trouble I would have gotten myself into.
After a good long while, I came to grips with my new beliefs. I realized that life could still have meaning; you just have to make the effort to establish and understand the things that are truly important to you. Once I got to this acceptance phase, I was still smoking all the time, but it was because I enjoyed it and not because I had to have it.
Then some girl troubles cropped up, and it was back to using it as a crutch. Again though, my habits never CHANGED, just my motives. And I was using responsibly. Last year, I did very well in school (straight Bs), made huge improvements in my work ethic at my job and was never late nor called in, and I also lost 45 lbs. All while getting high every single day. While it may not have been the healthiest habit for overall mental stability, I certainly wasnt letting it interfere with the responsibilities I had in life.
So, essentially, for two years I was hiding a ton of who I was from my parents. They had no idea that I was both an atheist and a stoner. To them, I was still a good Christian boy that would never even dream of touching a drug.
And all the while, I was posting everything about me on GAF. I didnt have many outlets in the real world to discuss a lot of the problems and issues I was dealing with, nor did I have many people to enthusiastically discuss my new hobby. So, under the security of anonymity, I would openly talk about most aspects of my life here. Little did I know
THE FALLOUT
I turned 21 just a couple weeks ago. As any respectable partier would do, I got hammered with my friends basically every night for that first week. While my parents knew I drank at college, they began to get worried because I was going out so often. I tried to explain that I had planned on getting smashed a ton during my first couple weeks of being 21, particularly since my birthday occurred over Christmas break and so I didnt have any other responsibilities to worry about, but naturally they were still concerned with the excess.
So, one night, after walking home drunk, I go up into my room to find my parents in my room going through my laptop. What is going on? I ask. Through her tears my mom said, Your father and I are reading about your atheism and pot smoking on that disgusting forum you post on
SHIT. They had gone through my internet history. For a good while, one of my absolute worst fears was having my parents find my GAF account. As I previously mentioned, I didnt hide much when posting here. And the things I posted where things I would NEVER want my family to read. After all, if I wanted to talk to them about the stuff I was posting on GAF I wouldnt have intentionally worked so hard to keep everything a secret.
Do you have marijuana in your locker? my dad asks. Yes I reply. Open it right now. I refuse. He asks again. I still refuse. And in my drunken stupidity, I hatch a very half-assed scheme. I text a friend, telling him he needs to come pick me up immediately. He says he is on his way. While Im trying to stall for time, my dad is going down to get tools to DISMANTLE MY LOCKER, since Im refusing to open it. After I can stall no longer, I get the key, open the locker door. I immediately grab my weed and my vaporizer and try to dash to the door. My plan was to grab the drugs and run outside, where my friend would be waiting for my escape. In hindsight, it is actually pretty fucking hilarious that I ever thought it would work :lol As soon as I started running my dad tackled me on my bed and they took everything. I then left with my friend to cool down for a while
The next few days were really fucking bad. My parents were beyond hurt, having to process the thought that their son was both a drug user and going to burn in hell for eternity. But one of the worst parts was coming home each night to find my mom on the computer, systematically going through everything I had ever posted on GAF. I mentioned in the Marijuana thread once that I was psychologically addicted, and because of that my parents want me to go to drug counseling. And beyond that, there were just a ton of fucking cringe worthy moments I had to sit through as she brought up so many things I posted in the past. Do you know how awkward it is to have your mom crying while saying And what about this post?? I wanna slap that milk chocolatey ass! How could you be so vulgar and disrespectful?? Hilarious to any outsider Im sure, but not enjoyable to go through
I went through and deleted most of the particularly scandalous posts, but thanks to GAFs quote feature my parents saw it all anyway :lol
THE FRUSTRATION
So many things about this whole situation pissed me off. For starters, I felt like it was a huge invasion of privacy for my parents to go through my laptop. My moms defense was We knew something was up with you, but you wouldnt tell us, so we had to find out on our own! In reality its my own fucking fault for not logging out of my desktop when I left the house (a mistake Ill be sure to never make again). A couple days after the incident, I came into my room to see that my locker had been gone through again. I had given them everything I had, but knowing that my room was being searched when I wasnt around once again felt like a big breach of privacy. I had/have nothing else to hide, but it was kind of a principle issue. I didnt feel comfortable in my own space anymore. To be fair, they obviously own the house so it really isnt my room, but it felt like my safe haven for so long that having that comfort stripped away from me was just another unpleasant adjustment I had to make through this whole situation.
Then came the pot arguments. The entirety of my justification was centered around how harmless it was, and how I give exactly zero shits that it is illegal because I get one life to enjoy and Im not going to let corrupt and genuinely ignorant politicians prevent me from doing something that gives me happiness and enjoyment. Pot isnt harmless, trust me, Ive seen what it can do to people was essentially what my mom was saying. However, every time I asked her to back this up with any sort of evidence she would claim I dont have to, you already have your mind made up that its harmless because its your drug of choice. OF COURSE you arent going to think there is anything wrong with it. Actually mom, I can show you mountains of scientific evidence to back up my claims. Id be more than willing to compile a bunch of data and show you. She refused. When I told her I would be very open to revising my stance if she could show me any evidence that weed IS harmful, she said it would be futile. Needless to say, that is one of the most inefficient ways to argue a point. Blatantly disregarding facts and being unwilling to provide ANY sort of evidence or support for your own viewpoint is in no way convincing to the opposing side. I also told her there is no way in hell I would ever go to drug counseling for weed, no matter what they threatened with (not that they were threatening with anything to get me to go). But they DID threaten to stop helping me pay for college if I ever do it again. As they put it: If you have enough money to spend on drugs, you can pay your for your own education! (Because weed and college are the exact same fucking price!). So, after being a stoner for a year and a half, I cant get high again until Im financially independent out living on my own. If I get caught, they will literally cut off tens of thousands of dollars of financial support. And as much as I love weed, it isnt worth the astronomically disproportional punishment Ill get from them if I get caught. My college party years I guess will now only consist of booze (a much healthier alternative!
)What was even more frustrating than the drug arguments though were the atheism arguments. After explaining to my mom that I dont believe in God because there is no evidence to support that belief, she literally said, Of course there is no evidence for God, and there never will be, which is why you just have to have faith! Im not sure any comments are even needed on that. She also made ludicrous suggestions that Im so miserable because I chose to turn my back on God and stop believing, and that all I need to do is choose to believe in him again and I wont have to worry about the emptiness of a hopeless world. I was, and still am, kind of shocked with the mental gymnastics some of these religious arguments require. I keep imagining someone who has never encountered the idea of religion before and somebody going up to them and saying HEY! There is no evidence for the God I believe in, but you should believe in him anyway or you will burn in hell forever! It is an incredibly irrational way to think, but I understand the desire to do whatever it takes to hold on to comforting beliefs. As unconvincing as any of the arguments to me are, my mom really wants me to meet with the pastor of their church, and so I agreed to it. That should be happening within the next couple of weeks.
The bright side to all of this is that my parents and I are getting along fine again. They are still very hurt and worried about me (all of my depression came out during this whole ordeal, and they feel terrible they werent there to help me through it which is kind of silly since I intentionally kept it hidden from them and they had no idea it was going on). Im going to be getting a therapist soon, which will be good. And in the meantime, its a new semester at university. Im in a major now that Im very happy with, I have amazing friends here, and Im going to be putting a lot of effort into making a lot of personal progress in 2011.
LESSONS LEARNED
1. ALWAYS be careful when posting anonymously online if there is every any chance someone you know and wouldnt want reading your posts could end up reading everything you write. Seriously, this was like a wikileaks level of sensitive information exposure (now I know how the world governments feel). And ALWAYS LOG OUT OF YOUR DESKTOP WHEN OTHER PEOPLE ARE AROUND! This is probably basic common sense, but I learned the hard way
2. Appreciate what you have, while you have it. I took for granted my excellent set up of having a comfortable place to get high every day. I had my comfy bed, my laptop, TV, video games, a fridge full of food, basically anything an avid herbal enthusiast could want. It was relaxing, it was awesome, and Im going to miss it. Obviously Im using my specific example as a broader lesson so whatever you enjoy in life, realize it will end at some point, so be thankful while you can still experience it.
3. Realize there are bright sides to every situation. I could easily get caught up in an unhealthy pattern of dwelling only on the negatives of the situation. I cant smoke weed any more! My privacy was invaded! I have to deal with a bunch of unnecessary stress with the family now! People are forcing policies onto me that I dont agree with! Instead, Im trying to focus on all of the benefits. Ill save a shit ton of money! I no longer have to hide who I am around those I love most! I learned a lot from the situation and will be better equipped in the future!
4. What doesnt kill you makes you stronger. Ive been through a lot of shit these past couple of years, but you know what? Im so much better today, as a person, than I ever would have been had some of these things never happened. And ultimately, self-progress and satisfaction is one of the only truly important ways to measure a successful life. After all, the ONLY common denominator throughout everything you experience in life is yourself. From birth do death, no matter the activity, YOU are going to be the one going through it, so you better damn well make sure you become someone that satisfies whatever standards you have for life. Learning to be comfortable and happy with who I am was one of the most liberating things Ive experienced. And even beyond that, learning healthy ways to think through and take action during bad situations is crucial. I know GAF is filled with plenty of depressed and unhappy people, many of whom cant afford therapy, so to that end I recommend this book. Out of all the self-help theories and books I've checked out, this one has by far been the most helpful.
THANKS, GAF
Ill stick around this thread for a short while so I can participate in the discussion, but after this thread has run its course Ill be asking for a perma-ban. Im sure my parents will be monitoring this username from now on, and I have no desire to post here if they are going to read everything I say. It is almost six years to the day that I first came up with the online moniker of EzLink, so this is kind of sad, but at the same time I always hated the name anyway :lol
This is a great community. I <3 you guys, I really do. Not only has GAF provided ceaseless entertainment these past couple of years, but I have also gotten some genuinely helpful advice and have had many views and beliefs challenged by the intellectually stimulating conversations that sometimes take place here.
Three threads in particular I want to draw attention to. The Metal Thread has been an incredible resource, introducing me to so many terrific bands that I otherwise never would have heard of. Keep up the excellent recommendations, because Im sure Ill continue to read the posts there
Next, the Marijuana thread. Yes, posting in it came back to bite me in the ass, but I had a great time swapping high stories with everyone. And I cant thank you guys enough for recommending the Magic Flight Launch Box (may mine Rest In Peace
). Most of you seem to be the friendly and responsible stoner type, which is one of the more effective tools in helping change the minds of people still stuck in the prohibition mindset. And since Im no longer going to be able to partake in the hobby for several years, dedicate your next bowl to me, okay?Finally, Combines original Girl-Age thread. Before that thread, I was fucking clueless when it came to talking to women. I would get nervous and be unable to hold a conversation with any girl even remotely attractive. Thanks to all of the solid advice and guidelines in that thread, I have done a complete turnaround. The advice hasnt just helped me talk to girls, but people in general. I can easily go up to a stranger now and have an engaging conversation, whether male or female, old or young, ugly or not. And I can trace it all back to that thread. This is one thread on GAF that I can truly say was life-changing.
On a final note, my parents will probably end up reading this thread. Be nice. As I said, they are absolutely wonderful people, and I have a ton of respect for how much they sacrifice for their children. And while it certainly does suck that we dont see eye to eye on important issues, at least I have a loving and supportive family that will always be there for me, which is a hell of a lot more than most people can say. I really am grateful for that. And even though they have some positions that are illogical, they arent unintelligent people. So please, dont badmouth them.
Alright GAF, that about wraps it up. This entire post is going to come across as melodramatic and unnecessarily lengthy to some of you, but I wanted to be thorough, especially since everything that happened is due to this website (and my inability to log out of my computer :lol). I hope at the very least my stressful situation was able to provide an entertaining story.
THREE CHEERS FOR GAF!
lol) but I hope you have the tolerance to accept his (lack of) beliefs and turn everything for the better. 
