Dear Cole,
Grade 10- Hello. I have a friend who’s been struggling with substance abuse. He doesn’t care about anything but that euphoria and I’ve noticed that it’s started to affect his personal relationships with friends, family, and the environment around him. He went from an average good student to failing, he’s turned into a liar, and there has been times when he’s stolen money from friends and family because he can’t afford his “game” anymore. He’s one of my best friends and I really want to help without getting anybody involved. Help?
Hi Worried,
While the concern you have for your friend is amazing and shows how big of a heart you have, I understand why you want to help without ratting him out and possibly getting him in trouble. What I should advise you to do is tell an important person that you trust so he can get help. I understand you want to help but this problem is much bigger and can’t just be dealt with in your hands. He seems to be doing this to possibly fix how he feels, there could be something going on at home or in his life or maybe he’s just trying to fit in. What you can do as his best friend is to be there for him and to ask him if he’s doing okay and try to get him to open up to you so you can better understand the situation. I advice you against taking the matter into your own hands because you cannot fix his problem and addiction. You may feel like you can’t tell anybody of importance because “he will hate me” “he won’t be my friend anymore” but I wouldn’t worry about that because if and when you do and he receives help and goes back to normal, in the long run he’ll realize you did such a good thing. He may even realize you saved him from drowning. Hope this helped! – Cole
Dear Carly,
Grade 11- Hey! I’m so stressed! There seems to be a million things going on in my life and I can’t seem to handle the juggle! School is getting to be a lot because the school years ending, I recently got a job and that’s beginning to be hard to handle on top of school and life, and I realize that I don’t have really good friends. I’m really feeling alone and lost right now and I don’t know how to get back to my normal self. Any ideas?
Dear Stressed out!
I know how it feels to be overwhelmed and believe me it stinks. What I suggest is just taking a deep breath and notice that this is all a part of growing up and everyone’s bound to do this someday. When I first got a job it was difficult to handle also on top of everything else but what I did was set myself up for the day. This may sound corny, but time management, planning out your day and giving yourself a certain amount of time for things can be a big help. Not only should you drink lots of water, get as much sleep as you can and make sure to eat, also give yourself time to relax and just do you wherever you can no matter what it is that will make you feel better and relax. Get a planner, calendar, or tell yourself you need time for homework, work, life, studying, friends and yourself. You are the most important person so don’t lose yourself within your life. Hope this helped. – Carly
Dear Carly,
Grade 12- Hello all, throughout high school I was the kid who didn’t care about anything but being funny, accepted, and liked. I blew off school for the first 3 years and failed almost every single class. I didn’t care because that was what all my friends were doing so I followed along until, I was told I wasn’t going to graduate. That was a big slap in the face and now I’m into the last month of my senior year and I’m on a thin line. I took credit recovery classes to make up the failed classes but I am still struggling with classes I still have to make up and the current classes I’m taking. Not only is that extremely overwhelming to me, I work a lot on top of that and I constantly have this thought in the back of my head that keeps telling me that I’m a failure and won’t make it. Help?
Dear Struggling,
What I want to say first is how proud I am, others, and your family are of you for taking the ropes and bettering yourself. I’m sorry that you’re struggling with school because I’m sure that’s horrible. As far as the thoughts that keep bringing you down I would do anything to either overcome those thoughts or just to get rid of them. Yes, they brought you down in the past but look how much you’ve raised the bar now. Not only are you making up probably a lot of old classes on top of the classes you have now, but you also have a job. If that doesn’t raise your confidence level and make you realize that you’re worth more than you think then really look at yourself because nobody is ever worthless. – Carly
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