re: Suicide attempt thread sparked a question in my head

quote:

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Drug addiction is not the same thing as depression

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And.....?
I did not say it was.
It is, however, a stupid choice to make in life.
I subscribe to the belief that the true meaning of life is: To choose.
It is a belief that we as humans were given free choice(by our Creator), to see what we would choose to do with our lives.
Seeing several members of my family as smokers when I was young, I decided to start smoking at the age of 11. Over the next 12 years, I would quit and start back several times. However,when my first daughter was on the way, I stopped, and have never started smoking again. I am around smokers all the time, and never go back to it.
When I was a teenager with several older friends, I became a heavy drinker at parties. Alcoholism, runs rampant through my family. I keep thousands of dollars worth of alcohol in curio cabinets in my home(because I like collecting the cool looking bottles), but since having kids I hardly ever drink. Not even enough to say that I have a drink a week.

I was diagnosed with severe depression while in the military, refused medication for it, went to counseling instead. Life is all about the choices we make, and what we allow to influence us.