Mikaila Tyhurst has released pictures of how the ‘legal party drug’, Gamma-Butyrolactone (more commonly known under its street name of GBL), wrecked her mind and body.
Apparently, she “agreed to release these haunting pictures to serve as a warning to anyone thinking of dabbling with GBL“.
This story actually pissed me off enough to start writing about something which has been on my mind for a while:
Taking responsibility for your actions!
“It has destroyed my life,’ she said. ‘I hope that by talking about what it has done to me it might stop someone else from trying it.”
“It”? GBL? Excuse me, Mikaila, but no, GBL hasn’t destroyed your life, you have! By being a complete idiot, you have destroyed your mind, your body, your looks, and quite likely your future.
In this day and age, it doesn’t take a genius to research things. Within one minute, I’d discovered that GBL is synthesised from Gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) which has been a class C drug in the UK since 2003, a full 2 years before Miss Tyhurst started her daily binging.
More and more I’m hearing or reading about people not taking responsibility for their actions; Miss Tyhurst is a prime example. I’d have far more respect if she’d said, “I made a bad choice, and started taking GBL. This is the result. Don’t make the same mistake”. That message is, in my opinion, far more powerful.
I’ve made many bad decisions in my life; screwed things up at work, in relationships. While I don’t always publicise them, I certainly don’t blame others or ‘things’ for my lack of judgement, mistakes or almighty screw ups. So what if I was drunk when X happened! Sure, being drunk may have affected my judgement and I did something I wouldn’t normally do; but it was certainly my decision to get into the altered state in the first place.
This extends to long standing life choices too. As an example, complaining of being broke because:
- A decision was made to work in an industry which doesn’t pay well.
- Education wasn’t taken seriously and subsequently it’s not been possible to get a well paid job.
…is not taking responsibility. In the first instance, research should have been done to ensure that a chosen industry will provide a desired lifestyle. In the second, well, perhaps the people who say school is important are right. Regardless, it’s rarely too late to change careers, go to night school or start back at university; it’s the “in thing”.
People take credit for their good choices, why not their bad ones? Is it pride, shame, fear, or something else? I’m interested in your thoughts.