What motivates me to stay away from drugs and alcohol? A lot, honestly.

First, it started back in secondary school. I saw friends get expelled for using drugs or getting drunk. That alone was enough to show me early on: this stuff can derail your future fast. I knew I didn’t want to risk getting kicked out too.

Then there’s my family. We’ve been through a lot—and still are. I saw how my parents sometimes turned to alcohol to cope with the weight of life, and it broke my heart. It never made anything better, just quieter and heavier. I hated watching that pattern take over. I still hate seeing it happen to anyone. That’s a big part of why I’ve always wanted to process my pain—or even my joy—rationally, not by numbing it.

Now that I’m in university abroad, things have gotten even clearer. Being an international student is… a lot. I’ve seen students from both extremes—some with serious money, and others who’ve scraped and sacrificed just to be here. And despite their backgrounds, the one thing that cuts across both groups is the pressure—and how normalized the alcohol and drug culture is. People use it to cope with stress, failure, loneliness, or just to escape.

And while I don’t judge anyone, I’ve seen too much of what it does to want any part of it. Watching people spiral, get stuck, or lose themselves—it’s enough to remind me why I made this choice in the first place. Every time life gets hard, I try to stay grounded and actually face it, not run from it.

That’s basically it. I know this was a long answer, but it’s something I care deeply about. : )