This week's episode discusses Xanax among other drugs and may be triggering to those who have dealt with substance abuse in the past.

If you were someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, I won't be offended if you skipped this week's episode.

And if you were someone you know is seeking help, I've put an informative link in the description of this episode.

This week we're gonna talk about Xanax, bad habits, and pride.

Xanax is a touchy subject. Something that's been on my list of topics for this very podcast since the day I began even keeping a list of topics.

Even uttering the word causes people to turn their heads and weigh in before you have the chance to finish your sentence.

And honestly, it's for good reason.

I'm not a doctor, I don't claim to be one, and nothing I say in this realm should be taken as medical advice.

But to answer what you may be thinking, yes, I've prescribed Xanax and I have been since 2011.

When I told two friends what I had recently been prescribed, they told me what any good friend would tell someone who's prescribed something of that notoriety. Be careful.

I understood what they were coming from.

In 2011 Xanax wasn't the all-encompassing B said it is today.

From 1996 to 2013, the time where I myself was prescribed, Xanax prescriptions ballooned by 67% with the actual physical amount of it more than tripling.

From the second I started seeing more and more of it in popular culture, that same sentiment that friends related to me, be careful, got louder and louder in my head.

But with every doctor visit I had about every six months, I looked at my situation and thought to myself, you know, I'm actually doing fine.

My heightened awareness from the beginning is probably my saving grace.

I have a somewhat addictive personality, not in the sense that I've dealt with addiction in the past, but simply when I like something, I just want more.

But I also wasn't taking Xanax in any way that I'm not supposed to. It's a crutch for those times when I think I'm limping.

It's 0.25 milligrams when I feel an anxiety attack coming on. Something used to happen weekly, but is now spread out to about once per month.

But ever since, I still can't stop thinking about those words. Be careful.

Inherently, I'm a careful person. I have a heightened sense of awareness of spending money to the point where it's my single biggest stressor.

I don't seek thrills because I know my early 30s body can't take what it used to. And I don't ingest anything I think could possibly kill me, except in some people's eyes, Xanax.

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