When one thinks of someone who made a strong impact on their own life you tend to think of a person who has made a positive impact, unfortuanlly mine was a negative. To narrow down just one person who had an impact on my life was a very tough decision, so I choose two friends who had impacted my life. These two friends are Ron and Matt, but unfortunately they both developed addictions to drugs and alcohol. It was very hard to watch my two best friend's crumble away and resort to painkillers and alcohol while I am on the sidelines watching. To have to try and help my friends become clean while focusing on my studies, working at my job and being captain of my hockey team was a very tough task and all at the age of 16.
It was nearing the end of 2000, my parents were helping me dress in a suit for the most melancholy of all reasons, a funeral. As sad as I felt at the moment, I knew my friend Ron was in a much deeper state of depression as this day he was burying his father. Although I could not emphasize with him, I knew I wanted to be there to support him. I decided that he should come on a trip with my family to Newport Beach, CA. My goal was to show Ron that if he needed anything that my family and I were there to help him. Ten years later he was still my best friend, but now I had a different battle to help him through, his addiction to oxycoton. At first I handled the situation the wrong way, instead of providing the attention and support he needed, I ignored him. I was too worried about what people would think of me for hanging out with a drug addict that we lost our friendship. Unfortunately it took me a couple of months to realize the consequences of my actions and how it was hurting Ron to not have a true friend supporting him. It also hurt me by watching my childhood friend go through such a drastic negative change. I needed to rekindle our friendship for both of us. The first thing that I had said to him in three months was, "sorry, sorry that I abandoned you in your time of need, however if you want us to have the same close friendship that we had in our childhood you need help, help that I cannot provide." I convinced Ron to inform his family about his drug abuse. This was a new experience for the both of us, but not the first or the last experience we will share together. I have never felt more regretful about a decision I have made in my past then to let Ron go through his addiction alone. Luckily for the both of us at the end of summer he was rehabilitated. It was a triumph for him, and a glorious moment for me, I had my best friend once again. Now there was a new challenge, making sure he stays drug free. This will not be easier then the first task, but I am not going to make the same mistake twice. No matter what people describe him as or me for that matter, I will not care. I wont abandon him. I will be a friend
"I've been sober for 20 years." Those words were spoken with such conviction and honor. Those six words I heard at the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting will forever be embedded in my mind and hopefully exclaimed by my friend Matt 20 years from now. To see so many people battling addiction was a truly mesmerizing and inspiring experience. To see people proud of their sobriety was enough to get Matt to accept that he wants to become clean and free from the stronghold that alcohol has on him. I had practically forced him to go to these meetings for the past month now because of the where his life was heading and how it destroyed me to see a friend become this self-destructive. To see a friend show up at school drunk and feeling that you could not do anything about the situation is awful. I devoted my time to help him become healthy. It was not a straightforward task and will not become any simpler due to the fact that we are seniors in high school and graduation is coming up this year. As a friend I owe him my attention. It is my responsibility to make sure he does not swallow another drop of alcohol. It is my responsibility to make sure he transforms to the healthy, funny friend that I love.
How have these two individuals impacted my life? To watch my best friends go through a transformation from fun and exciting guys to harsh drug abusive people was a very difficult thing to manage. This situation was a first for me. Losing a friend because they are moving to a different city is one thing, but to lose a friend due to drugs is a whole different ballgame. At first I did not know how to handle the situation. Do I confront them or do I ignore the situation and forget what I was seeing. Unfortunately at first I choose the latter. I was afraid of what the 'free-for-all ' society of high school would label me as if I conversed and hung out with people that did drugs. I was way too obsessed about what people would think of me that I let my closest childhood friend fall through the cracks without anyone being there to support him. This is my biggest regret, and it was time to change. Why should I care what people think about me? I needed to not worry about the criticism I would feel from judgmental human beings, but instead I need to think about my friends and their well-being. Due to these experiences I now have the ability to talk to my peers about what drugs can due to you, and the people around you. These two situations fascinated me. Why do people act the way they do? This one of the reasons why I want to major in Psychology. I want to know what drives someone to do drugs, and more importantly how to help that person cease their addiction.
First of all, it must have been hard to save your friends from drug and alcohol addiction. You managed to do it, so hat's off to you. The content of this essay is amazing. But there are a number of minor grammatical errors. I am not that good at grammar so I won't be able to correct you. Take it to your English teacher. If you can't, ask some mod here to do it. They all are very good with grammar.
You tell your story well and you are a good person. Hope you get in and be a great psychologist. Good luck.
