Fucking cool chef! I hope you got to have a really nice little connection over the phone with him
I'm not a normie, but I'm not an addict either: I'm something else entirely. I'ma Misha - so fuck yo labels!
I really don't appreciate the dichotomy of addict/normie. I work in the treatment/harm reduction field and also spend free time volunteering in it (so basically I spend a shit load of time around it and my life does kinda revolve around it). Everyone I work with, have volunteered with or have met and talk with about this subject, or even when I've overheard people mentioning it in passing, they all have assumed I'm a "normie" (those who don't know me well that I work with never have assumed I'm an addict, let alone a drug user; frankly given my obsession with drugs I have always found this hard to understand). They all just assume, for plenty of superficial reason I'm sure - and because I don't go around advertising my challenges and predilections, that I don't have a history of problematic drug use or addiction.
I understand why the distinction is so common and isn't gonna go away any time soon, but there are much less differences between most addicts and "normal people" than the dichotomy could represent. Normie ares just as pathologically fucked up as addicts can be.
Personally, I really believe the reason people are labeled and understood as addicts as opposed to normal people in most circumstances (in terms of their involvement in society's institutions, public and private) is thanks to our somewhat puritanical views on deviance.
Anyways, there are a lot of people who aren't addicts in my life. Some of them have experienced periods of problematic drug use, and many of them have other pathological type issues (like I have different friends with a history of trauma/PTSD type symptoms, one who's experienced gender disphoria, more than one who has serious anxiety problems and/or serious depression, and a couple with bipolar I/II). These folks, for the most part, have their issues very under control. They're "normal" responsible hard working people, but they do a lot to keep themselves healthy that a lot of people don't really consider.
I mean, granted I know a lot of fucked up people, but if you look hard enough, even if folks in our culture (American) are really good at masking them, almost every individual has some genuine issue or another (and if they're not presently experiencing it they have in the past). I like to think my mom and dad are perfect, normal people who don't have any "issues", but that's fucking delusional. Doesn't mean they aren't extremely highly functioning people, and if you judged them by their success like our culture implicitly teaches you to they're living really "good," "normal" lives.
Okay, not going into parent issues... And now I'm even further off topic. So what was this thread about? TBH I was confused initially anyways. Are we being asked if we are addicted or normies OR are we asked about the addict/normies that are in our lives? Hope that made sense. I really got to fucking go to bed and get some sleep. This is what happens when I don't have a partner or someone to sleep with around, I don't get enough sleep
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