Do you think you’re a rebel? Do your drunken nights and cigarette breath make you cool? Let’s stop and think about this for a minute. How many high school students will spend any given Friday or Saturday night at a party getting drunk or high? So are you a rebel, or, in reality, are you a conformist and just another statistic?

Many high school students believe that high school is meant as a time to try different and often illegal things. As a result of this attitude, most of them are failing some or most of their classes. This may affect the rest of your life. Do you want to go to college and get a job that pays well and you enjoy, or do you want to spend the rest of your life trying to make ends meet at a minimum wage job that you hate going to everyday? This could be the outcome all because of the decisions you made to drink or smoke.

Have you ever stopped to think of how your “recreational habits” will affect you physically and mentally? There are people who die nearly every day because of alcohol poisoning, liver failure, and many other alcohol-related illnesses. There are people who end up paralyzed or mentally handicapped as a teenager because of the reaction their body has to the alcohol. All of these things can be avoided by not drinking, and maybe choosing not to go to that party and be cool. Is your popularity really worth your physical or mental health the rest of your life?

Is your family affected by alcohol now, or do you know someone whose family has been? Many divorces each year are caused by financial problems, which originated from an alcohol problem. Do you want to become part of this statistic? Even if a family isn’t torn apart from these addictions, it can cause great stress and a lack of communication. You can also become a parent long before you are ready to be, financially or mentally. Your children may even spend the rest of their lives not knowing their father. You could even go your entire life not knowing that you have a child. Do you want your children to suffer the same life you did or you watched others go through, or do you want to end the chain of addictions?

Alcohol can affect you for the rest of your life. It may be through your career, your health, or your family. There is no such thing as just drinking once every now and then, or casual drinking. Just one drink or drunken night can change the rest of your life. Do you want to be happy with a family and a decent job later in life? Let’s end this cycle of alcohol and smoking addictions. The change starts with us.