Quick Tips to Get in the Way
We are debuting the Get in the Way Video Series where we share quick tips to make life easier, and more successful and fun for everyone. We can get in the way of disrespect, bullying, failure and of suicide to mention a few. However, this particular Get in the Way Series focuses on preventing underage drinking, teen marijuana use and prescription drug abuse. Our purpose is to give all youth every opportunity to be successful and grow up…drug and alcohol free.
Our goal is to give parents, grandparents, other adults in the community the tools to Get in the Way, to say something, to do something, should the situation arise.
This is about prevention…and how we as caring adults can keep youth focused on their dreams, direction and goals…rather than getting distracted by the garbage in life. We may not always be able to Get in the Way of all the dangers youth face nor would we want to. Being over protective and not allowing them to experience the challenges of life would deprive someone the opportunity to grow and learn valuable life-lessons that only come from the pain of making a bad choice or the wrong decision. My best life-lessons came from failure, rarely from success. Success feels good but failure is the only thing that created change.
Letting youth gain valuable life-lessons has a very distinct limit. The teen years are critical to brain development and drugs and alcohol alter the brain development and chemistry making it very easy to cross what I call the invisible line to addiction. The fact is that 90% of people who suffer from addiction started as a teen. Going down a path of personal destruction due to drugs and alcohol has a negative impact and many times creates a lifetime of struggle. That is why this series focuses on Getting in the Way of underage drinking, marijuana use and prescription drug misuse by teens.
I might add that the series this is designed with you and your busy schedule in mind. These short 5 minute videos are designed to quickly bring you information on related topics. Most importantly, these videos will create awareness. If you get the prevention part right…it will be less likely you have to experience the stress of intervention and treatment for alcoholism or chemical dependency for someone you love and care about. Worse yet you won’t have to deal with death due to a traffic fatality or an overdose.
One important point to keep in mind; It is human nature for us to think this will never happen to my family or my children or grandchildren for that matter. We think we’re stronger than that, or I’m a better parent than that. Fact is addiction has no barriers. It doesn’t care if you are rich or poor, educated or uneducated. It doesn’t care about race, ethnicity, or gender. No one is immune.
Prevention is about increasing the odds of success and never having someone we love and care about crossing that invisible line to addiction. If your life has already been touched or in some cases destroyed by drug abuse or addiction you know exactly what I’m talking about.
In this series we’ll cover one new tip each week. Tips are simple, insightful, factual, and to the point. We know you are busy and we want you to be successful! You’ll find tips can be applied both personally and professionally; many tips will motive and inspire.
So here’s why these are quick 5 minute videos. It all boils down to: Attention Units. We all have them, but we only have so many on any given day. Get everyone ready for school, go to work, run the kids here and there, laundry, dinner, homework, social media, TV…everyone and everything is competing for our Attention Units. The goal with brief videos is to capture a few of those Attention Units and create awareness with some great information you can store in your sub-conscious and use should the situation arise. How often have you watched a brief video on your phone and when you were finished you felt uplifted or had a key idea or thought that you applied during the day? The key word here is awareness.
In our next video we’ll talk about Get in the Way Tip #1: Verbalize Your Expectations Often
Until next time, show me the hand and remember to Say Something, to Do something.