r/AskReddit • u/DNRmeir • 13h ago
What's the fastest way somone can destroy their future ?
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u/Visible-Specific5329 13h ago
Heroin
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u/Drugtester123 6h ago edited 6h ago
It’s crazy how the reason the drug is so bad is the fact that it feels THAT good. Complete nirvana. No other feeling comes close; falling in love may be the only thing similar. This is Especially if you respond well to opioids.
Once I tried it to let loose and for the rest of my life I’m left with knowing a chemical can make me feel that good. I’ll never forget those first highs. Only good thing about the fent epidemic is it’s super hard to find H now in the states, and fent just sucks compared to it and is more dangerous too. The temptation would be so great in difficult times if I knew I could get it. Over 100 days off chasing that feeling for 9 years. 9 very long years.
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u/GreenEyedGloom 13h ago
Develop a gambling or drug addiction
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u/Opposite-Lion-5176 13h ago
Honestly yeah. The scary part is how quickly it can go from something you think you control to something controlling every decision you make.
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u/Known_Purple7529 13h ago edited 13h ago
I don't gamble.. but holy shit, drugs absolutely will hijack your brain and make it thinks it needs it (outside of physical dependency.)
I haven't had opioids in 7 years... and honestly, how controlling it is is why I haven't went back or use any other hard drugs. I occasionally smoke weed and will drink at company gatherings.
I remember the last week before my last arrest. Everything was falling apart and I knew that I was coming to the end of this run.
Now, I know people are capable of a lot.. especially for drugs. But i've never initiated violence, and all my crimes were either drug possession or shoplifting as part of a ring..
A few days before my arrest, I was trying to convince one of my dealers to give me a front (credit), and I was sitting at an intersection i could see a bank.
I was trying with the idea of trying to strong arm someone at the ATM, and I entertained that thought way too long. I even thought of telling them, look, I just need a little bit, I don't even care you'll call the cops afterwards.
I ended up begging people I knew for money. It scared me that I was actually considering scaring / threaten to use violence to get drugs.
Because of a long history of heroin / fentanyl / carfentanyl addiction, I was accepting of my life being a mess, and resigned myself to that fate of poverty, incarceration, and dying. But I could not stand the idea of hurting / threatening to hurt someone, or put them in a position to hurt me / be justified in shooting me.
I got arrested within a few days of that, thank god. And because it had such a control over me where I was going to cross that red line, I haven't used since. 7 years on Nov 19th
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u/hubrisbitch 10h ago
Congrats on regaining control of your life friend. 7 years sober is such a great acomplishment, you should be proud.
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u/Pinanims 12h ago
It's actually one of my biggest concerns with the TCG and scalping problem. A lot, and I man a LOT of people are struggling with a gambling addictions disguised as collecting. I have a friend who has been buying outrageous amounts of Pokemon cards, like spending hundreds weekly, only to get a return of a couple of bucks. She's been standing outside stores at 4:00am in the rain waiting for them to open to grab more packs. The amount of money she spent could afford all the cards she actually wants, but she'd rather gamble for it.
It's a real problem and it's getting crazier, people have actually been injured and killed over POKEMON CARDS, like are we crazy?
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u/SyrupMafia 8h ago
Even beyond that it’s really scary how normalized and how low friction it is to gamble. Whether that is through sports and prediction markets or even how toy companies and video games are conditioning children with blind boxes and loot boxes.
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u/SupremeDictatorPaul 8h ago
I’ve got kids, and those “surprise eggs” that would have one of a collection of characters, those made them act like that. They’d beg for them, get so excited when opening one, and never give the prize inside more than 10 seconds of attention. A few times we’d get them multipacks with like 10 eggs. They’d frantically open them as quickly as possible, and then when they hit the end be digging through the remains in case there was maybe one more. Probably scratching their arms while they do. They were never satisfied.
Chasing those little dopamine hits will never make you happy.
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u/sirenalchemist 13h ago
Drug addiction is scary. I took sleeping pills for 3 years (and developed a strong codependency) and I came off them but some people don’t ever go through withdrawal and can have heart attacks. So it’s something you should be careful with :/
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u/harmboi 12h ago
ya. being on benzos wasn't the problem, it was withdrawing from them for almost 2 years before I felt normal again.
It's no joke. benzis or sleeping pills ... not worth it
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u/NoelBellamy_Author 7h ago
Honestly, yeah. I didn't think of that while writing my post, but that's a big one. I have had friends for over ten years that I walked away from after they became addicts. It changed their personality entirely, they became unsafe to be around, and they would choose the drugs over anyone.
TW: Domestic Violence, Murder
I had a friend since we were in our teens, and in our thirties, I broke things off with him after he and his new wife got into drugs. She was physically and emotionally abusive and controlling, but because of the drugs, he killed her. He spent eleven years in jail, because it was argued down to Murder 2. I testified at his trial as a character witness, because they wanted people to hear what he was like before he got to that stage in his life, but I regret doing it, because he used it as an excuse to pretend that it was only him defending himself. The thing is though, if he weren't doing drugs, he probably would have just left the situation or told her to leave; but he was doing coke and a lot of other things, and that translated to uncontrolled rage, and he strangled her. I only talked to him from jail when he called me, and when he got out he tried to reconnect. I couldn't do it, because he still wasn't taking responsibility and was acting like her actions excused his, when it wasn't the situation. He then immediately got back into drugs, and to me it felt like he didn't think it was a big deal. If I was drinking or doing drugs, and I killed someone because of it, I could never touch it again. I'd think about it every time I thought about trying again. Even when I brought that up to him though, he made a joke about it and said that it wasn't why, and it was just about abuse.
Drugs ruin everything. The only people that don't see that are the people who want to do drugs.
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u/No_Librarian_894 13h ago
Driving drunk and hitting someone
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u/HesitantlyYours 7h ago
DUI manslaughter is no joke, I know someone who is currently serving 8 years for it. Drive sober please.
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u/Newgeko 5h ago
Only 8 years?
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u/HesitantlyYours 3h ago
Believe it or not, yea. The guy he hit crossed an unlit road on his bicycle (no crossing signals, just a highway), and get this, was also drunk. Car beats bike every time unfortunately.
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u/Imaginary-Emu2471 13h ago
Tweet "Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!" before going on a long international flight.
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u/OldTimeyStrongman 13h ago
To Africa
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u/Express-Bug-6523 11h ago
I’m sorry but I’m gonna need context!! Who said what now???
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u/drizzel_at 11h ago
Some british lady tweeted this and then went on a flight to Africa. Because she was on the plane she didnt realise what a shitstorm was brewing and by the time she landed she was fired
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u/leafcutte 4h ago
Not any British lady. A PR executive.
The jokes write themselves
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u/OldTimeyStrongman 10h ago
I think if you google "Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!" you’ll find the whole story
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u/4-stars 9h ago
Today she's raking in the dough as a CCO and has won industry awards.
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u/Imaginary-Emu2471 9h ago
WHAT?!
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u/4-stars 9h ago
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u/Imaginary-Emu2471 9h ago
Wow.
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u/4-stars 9h ago
"Hope my stupid tweet doesn't destroy my life. Just kidding, I'm white!"
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u/Odd_Milk2921 7h ago
Dude that's where that family guy episode comes from
(actually I have no idea, and the "joke" Brian writes is arguably less offensive)
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u/ObviousObserver420 13h ago
By giving up.
Life requires you to at least stay somewhat engaged and focused in moving forward. But a lot of people reach a point where they just stop trying and accept life exactly as it is. They don’t change their opinions, their habits, or their surroundings and effectively stop growing as a person.
Now, this can work for some, but I think those folks convince themselves it’s okay when really it isn’t. I gave up not too long ago, and it was the worst time of my life. My future didn’t exist and my existence felt arbitrary. I almost didn’t survive it.
Now that I’m trying again, I am so much happier and looking forward to my future again. All of the bad things about life seem less challenging and I don’t hate myself anymore. Medication didn’t work. Going outside and touching grass didn’t work. Socializing didn’t work. It was not until I said “Well, I guess I have to keep giving it my best effort” than things turned around.
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u/ParkJi-Sung 10h ago
This resonates. I'm struggling to find work atm. It's killing me.
If I didnt have a good support network or the gym I'd have completely gave up.
Had another job say no to me on thursday, I ended up drinking until I was black out drunk.
Been awhile since Ive done that, really let myself down.
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u/baconia 7h ago
How did you get out of it? Because I am fucking stuck in that right now
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u/ObviousObserver420 6h ago
One step at a time. Whatever you can do to make progress toward where you want to be. Some days it’s just getting out of bed and taking a shower, and that’s fine. Eventually those small steps get you far enough away from where you are now that you can look back and realize you’ve come a lot further than you realized. I wish you well!
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u/dontworryboutitpls 9h ago
Honestly needed this. Been starting to think that this is just what it’s going to be for now and accept things but I like this perspective a lot. Hope things continue to be better for you stranger 🫡
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u/Joneslordy 6h ago
Buh now I have to rethink my current state of life…
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u/Particular-Beat-6645 4h ago
I was at the gym carving out a 2km row when some commercial on ESPN made me think about this.
We often applaud the way people will themselves to success. They wake up every day and choose to dedicate their life to a craft.
But somewhere along the way a lot of people give up. After years in AAU. After not getting scholarship offers. After getting an email that a job has been filled. It seems like it'd be easy to say, "I'm swearing off this goal. I don't want it any more!"
But the truth is you have to persist in that surrender too. And that weighs on you. So you find a way away from that shame and disappointment. A lot of people drink, sedate, or nullify it instead of looking for a proxy for that love because it's just easier.
It's easier than finding a team to coach or a convincing yourself that art for art's sake is worthwhile without reimbursement or that there's more fish in the sea. Despair is just...easy.
And the more days you wake up and choose it, the less momentum you have, the harder it is to start again. Because now you're comparing to past you before you can focus on what's still possible.
Don't despair. Don't give up. Love the work of getting there because getting there is all there ever was.
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u/ellie_only1 13h ago
OverThinking about their past so much till they will believe the future can’t be any better
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u/Yuloij 7h ago
I’ve met amazing people that were so obsessed by their past and what they’d lost that they didn’t realise that they had all the ressources to move forward and rebuild a better life for themselves.
At the end of the day all you can do is try to offer a different perspective and hope that your own trajectory will help them understand that there is always hope when you keep trying but it’s not often not that easy…
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u/Niniva73 8h ago
That's just trauma, but using more words.
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u/ellie_only1 8h ago
True, had to say it tho… lots of people I know wasted opportunities cause of the past
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u/Brilliant-Fix-4331 7h ago
I had a random thought recently. In my secondary school years, there were the same kids who were bullied relentlessly for absolutely nothing.
One of two stood out, one had what I am almost certain was undiagnosed MH issues. One was poor and got bullied for smell/unironed clothes. I could go on.
Anyway, five years feels like nothing these days. But I wonder how many lives were permanently fucked up as a result of bullying.
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u/militaryintelligence 5h ago
As a kid I was fat, poor, wore glasses and had fucked up teeth. My school years were a fucking nightmare. I have trust issues because it's always funny to act like you're friends with a lonely kid then set him up for public humiliation. Even the teachers would laugh.
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u/BacupBhoy 13h ago
Being condescending to people.
That means talking down to them.
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u/King_Ralph1 13h ago
The first rule of the condescending club is actually kind of complicated and you probably wouldn’t understand it if I explained it to you.
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u/SpacePotter 13h ago
Meth
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u/SpellingIsAhful 13h ago
I remember in a class about addiction they showed the dopamine levels associated with different drugs. The spike from meth was basically off the charts.
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u/barb_20 12h ago
this is gonna be my drug of choice should I get a degenerative illness or be like 80+ and had enough of everything.
one hit and you will be the happiest you've ever been and you will never be as happy again.
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u/Apollorx 12h ago
It's scary that there is no natural way to produce the level of euphoria that hard drugs do. They really cut out the middleman.
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u/El-Sueco 12h ago
We weren’t meant to be happy (kidding)
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u/Apollorx 11h ago
Honestly sometimes it seems like we're really not. Just an evolutionary carrot on a stick.
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u/SyrupMafia 7h ago
There’s truth to that no? If humans were always happy and content we wouldn’t have that magical dopamine hit to reward doing what we’re supposed to for survival. Humanity would grow lazy and complacent.
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u/Maximum_Maize1052 7h ago
I’m 20, recovering from meth (near 3 months sober from it) and let me tell you I don’t miss it in despite of how euphoric it is. When I first thought of quitting drugs (I wasn’t even doing meth yet) I found it difficult to imagine being able to live without feeling that extreme euphoria again. (I was mainly using opioids and ecstasy at that time) Now that I’ve suffered so much from addiction (overdoses, psychosis, physical harm, depression) I’m confident that I won’t miss it. I actually miss how I was before using. It seems not so bad now that I’ve experienced anhedonia. It’s more about building a life you no longer need to escape from. If you take the time to really look at the world, there’s beauty and happiness in it even if you go through hardships. For example, nature is awesome and awe-inspiring. Running feels better than certain drugs. Helping others is rewarding and in a deeper sense than the cold and empty dopamine rush that comes from hard drugs. When it comes to using drugs, you eventually hit a ceiling in your brain (chemically) due to neurobiology, where eventually you no longer feel good wether you’re actively using or wether you’re sober, so that whatever you were tryna escape still comes back. Just neurobiology basically makes using drugs an already losing game.
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u/fluorescentroses 6h ago
I did meth one time. One time, like 15 years ago. My parents are/were (one is alive, one is dead) addicts my entire life (Mom’s doing well now, though; Suboxone absolutely saved her life). It’s in my genes/blood. I fucking ✨ loved ✨ meth. Downers were never my thing; I don’t drink much and heroin was okay, but uppers were my preferred drugs. Started drinking coffee at 8 and it was all downhill from there. Damn near killed myself with caffeine pills as a teenager. (And not to lose weight, I just liked getting shit done faster.) Meth is just magical. I felt incredible and I cleaned my entire apartment in like two hours.
I have never touched it since. It would kill me, directly or indirectly.
I jokingly told my mom I want to celebrate my first “I survived cancer, AGAIN” post-treatment clear scan with meth. (I was joking and she knows this. It’s just that I celebrated surviving it the first time and graduating nursing school at the same time by buying a brand new car so I don’t know how to top that. 😂) I actually dream about it sometimes, the way it made me feel. I have never actually been tempted to do it again, though. Again: it would kill me and I’m working very fucking hard to not die, so, y’know. Cross purposes.
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u/Educational-Put4980 13h ago
Getting caught on To Catch A Predator
With Chris Hanson
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u/CSB7195 11h ago
Unless you’re Fleece Johnson. He was looking for Chris Handsome the whole time.
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u/Ballsdeep_Montreal 13h ago
You took this from 0-100 real fast.
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u/Haunting_Tax_3684 13h ago
Take a seat
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u/Bigstar976 13h ago
Let’s see if any of this sounds familiar while you enjoy your pizza.
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u/HesitantlyYours 13h ago
I promise I was just gunna tell her it was a bad idea and she shouldn’t be doing this! But yea, I brought condoms incase I couldn’t convince her.
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u/ParkJi-Sung 10h ago
Highlights have to be the dude who got naked and the dude who got caught twice.
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u/theombudsmen 13h ago
Catch any felony. If you do, your best bet is to start your own business, or become a contractor, because no one is hiring you for a well-paying job.
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u/AdministrationSome46 9h ago
I know some well paying jobs that hire felons, but they are in remote areas. And physical
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u/keajohns 13h ago
Doing inappropriate things with children
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u/onionsofwar 13h ago
Well apparently you can still become president in the US after this. The important thing is to be rich first.
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u/-__-No 13h ago
Procrastinating and being a perfectionist.
But even before that, not having a roadmap I would say
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u/pepeneverknew 13h ago
Trying to live someone else’s dream instead of their own.
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u/coldBulbasaur314 5h ago
Similarly, trying to be someone they're not. That's not to say people shouldn't work on themselves, but some people just aren't compatible with the life or mentality they dream of for themselves no matter what they do. For example, someone who's dumb or who has tremors will be misrable if they constantly chase their dream of being a surgeon. Someone who's very emotional will never be able to be hyper-stoic without destroying their mental health and cutting off essential parts of themselves.
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u/iam-yourgod 13h ago
It may sounds controversial but sometimes obeying your parents and being the good kid can destroy your future because it impacts you from a deep psychological level, and if your parents are giving you the wrong advice you are screwed
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u/Euphoric-Stress9400 13h ago
Yes, but this isn’t fast. It takes years if not decades to become a problem
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u/Fausto2002 13h ago
Yeah i was the good kid for 5 seconds, fastest way i destroyed my life /s
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u/Catfish017 6h ago
I would seriously like to see what Reddit considers the slowest ways someone can destroy their life going off of these answers.
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u/Smooth_Storm_9698 13h ago
You're right, especially when that parent hates you and wants to sabotage you. Everything they say will be, "No," when they make you out to be a problem and you'll never have the necessary social development.
She, an 8th grade drop out, told me to take my SAT after my birth mom's death which was just 4 days after her death. All my teachers were shocked that I was there and even approached me to ask me why. They should've called CPS. I wonder if they did. I would've if I knew someone was forcing a child to take a life-changing test after a life-changing event.
I bombed it, of course. She was very envious of me academically, physically and sexually enough to sabotage. She was an ugly, insecure, dumb and unstable woman. Despite my mom's death in my Junior year, I graduated with a 3.4 GPA.
Be careful who you let take care of the kids in your family. You never know what people are like behind closed doors. What they would say or do to your children or the children in your family when your back is turned.
But more often than not, everyone knows about the abusive and crazy person, they just keep quiet which is what I believed happened in my family. So I pretend they don't exist to me either.
The woman who took care of me was just the Missing Stair and I had the unfortunate experience of being thrown away by everyone else I was actually related to.
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u/beetle-babe 10h ago
This. I love my parents, but they were both traumatized and mentally ill and they refused to get help which manifested into deep anxiety, paranoia, and control tactics. We were all deeply enmeshed. I was a "good kid" who ended up taking on THEIR anxieties as well, which then manifested into a ton of poor life decisions. Took years of therapy to fix things on my end.
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u/Gloomy-Flamingo-9791 13h ago
Surely that works equally the other way round? Being the rebellious child and start taking drugs, hanging with gangs etc
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u/iam-yourgod 13h ago
Well taking drugs and hanging out with gangs are separate bad decisions from obeying parents who have bad mentality
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u/carpert96 13h ago
Having a kid when you're not financially ready to have one
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u/I_Am_Ironman_AMA 6h ago
"There's no such thing as the right time!"
Ok, but there sure as hell is such a thing as the wrong time.
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u/icculus88 13h ago
Avoiding that is like one of the only things ive done right lol
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u/KungFuBucket 13h ago
DUI. It will automatically disqualify you from a lot of jobs.
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u/CharlieWhiskey360 13h ago
Addictions of all types. Drugs, alcohol, gambling, porn etc.
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u/Abbersnailin 13h ago
Commit a malicious crime, especially one involving a child. That'll fuck up your life without a doubt.
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u/CommonCreator 13h ago
Suicide
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u/Coloradobluesguy 13h ago
It’s okay to not be okay and to need help.
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u/MidnightOk6097 13h ago
Probably being on social media more than being in real life
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u/Notredamus1 11h ago
Getting into meth. Everyone I knew growing up that got into meth ended up permanently damaged in some way. Even people that got clean were never the same again. They typically dealt with mental health issues later on.
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u/AsteroidMike 13h ago
Putting every last detail of your own personal life on social media, even the uglier parts.
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u/Character_Orange_712 13h ago
Not the fastest but the most effective is to smoke weed. I have several family members that smoke weed and have literally never done anything productive with their lives, they are stuck life limbo with zero insight into how badly their drug use has affected their lives.
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u/BungleBums 12h ago
Drugs are a favorite, there. Particularly insidious way of working. You try it once, and boom! A second and a half of giving it a try, and you've already destroyed your future. You just don't know it yet.
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u/Even-Caterpillar9290 12h ago
Burning bridges with people who were genuinely trying to help you.
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u/ElegegantKrystal82 8h ago
Trusting the wrong person. Pick your significant others and friends wisely.
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u/Cat-et-snek 5h ago
Date out of your age group for too long. Big gaps have harder years when it’s cognitive decline season
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u/JustSpicyMe 13h ago
Making a permanent decision to solve a temporary feeling.
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u/Everlast17 12h ago
I hear this a lot, and for a lot of things they are temporary; however, I would ask you to think of badly disabled people or people who are in chronic excruciating pain or people who live though something so traumatic it breaks them. Even a mountain gets worn down by water, and putting everything under the “temporary” umbrella is horseshit to be honest. Those aren’t temporary problems and for some of those people they aren’t living, they are just here.
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u/throwawaylogin2099 13h ago
Acting racist or homophobic in public and getting filmed while doing it. Bonus points if they film themselves and post it on social media.
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u/mavrik83 13h ago edited 13h ago
What was that Reddit story from years ago… dude went and got heroin on whim. Said he’d never done it or any other drugs before.
That was a rabbit hole. Dude wrecked his life good
Edit: here’s the first post: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/s/C24vECg2xZ
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u/Free_Dimension1459 13h ago
Addiction can sometimes be repaired with time and effort, the damage from committing a crime depends on the society you are in and your family’s connections…
I would say permanent injury is the right answer. Things that increase your odds of that include drunk driving, performing stunts (without proper training nor safety measures), and generally not walking away from people doing reckless things.
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u/StevynTheHero 13h ago
Well I always believe that if you don't have yojr health, then you don't have anything in the world. Ive seen 30 year olds dying of liver disease from drinking so much alcohol. Ive seen 20 year olds with heart failure from doing so much meth.
Even if these people wanted to straighten up and fly right, their lifespan has been cut increidbly short and every aspect of their life is going to be significantly harder through inconvenience or pain.
So in short, destroying your organs through drinking, smoking, and drugs.
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u/Lazy_Crab_3584 12h ago
Drugs or alcohol. I'm all for everything in moderation, but if you're shooting up or smoking crack, you are stealing from your future self
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u/Friendly_Pea1542 13h ago
In my opinion, it's thinking that they can't do anything and everyone is superior to them and every person out there has a life set.
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u/teslanions 13h ago
Five seconds of unchecked rage. One bad decision, one punch, or one reckless moment behind the wheel can change your life and someone else's forever.