there is a vice in life. theres many, even, but one will be yours. you will fight a battle that will often leave you dead, or worse yet... alone. you will seek solace in your suffering via community. before you know it, your life is your vice—your friends, your hobbies.

you and your friends will bond about the inequalities of life. you will reminisce about how you have to fight your way through the trenches of a war nobody knows, except each other. you will feel that your way of life is no more than the hand you were dealt.

it doesnt matter if you feel your vice was predetermined—that you were bound to fall into it due to the circumstances of your birth—because you live in a world that doesnt fight the same battle. you are the exception, you will be treated as such.

you will struggle to navigate a society that skirts your presence. you do not exist, except for when your being inconveniences the greater parts of society. you will be resented. you will be unfairly treated. you were not given the same tools in life. you will be spited for it.

at this point in your path, their treatment hurts you more than your vice. you want help, you want acceptance, you want your identity to be respected, you wan- you sure do ask for a lot, yknow? dont you know this is what you signed up for when subscribing to your vice?

you disagree. you think that your battle is unjust in the criticism it receives—after all, you think about the ways its helped you, and how youre still alive despite the dangers. you want to fight a new battle: fighting for the acceptance of you and your peers.

you arent stupid. you understand that while you may feel alone in the struggle against your vice, its for good reason. this vice has killed hundreds... thousands... millions, maybe. your vice shouldnt be normalised, rather your struggle against it.

you set out to foster a larger community. maybe you volunteer at treatment centers. you dispel misinformation and publish the underrepresented narratives, often backed scientifically, of the real truth behind your battle, and how you arent evil for it.

the branches of your labour start to bear fruit. you start saving the lives of those pushed away from society with nowhere and no one to turn to. youre making a difference in the world. you may not see acceptance in your own lifetime, but maybe the future will.

for most, this is where the road ends. all you set out for was acceptance, for community, and you have it. above all else, you wanted to not be alone in your battle. however, that fear still lingers. its enough to plague the mind of those not careful. night falls over the road.

if youve put enough time into it already, shaped enough of your personality around this battle, built most of your group through it, then your vice has achieved filling more than just one hole in your life. now, its not simply a battle of addiction or acceptance.

youve fought so long for normalisation that youve forgotten why this vice was never normalised to begin with. even though your life has improved, youre still attached to your vice. its who you are now. its all youve known for so long. you forget about recovery.

youve fought so hard to enable tools for overcoming this battle that you never once stopped to think about turning the tools inward. instead, you convince yourself that you need your community, your identity, all the things that came with the vice.

you get careless again. you knew the dangers when you first signed up, but youve since forgotten them. you made it this long with no problems, after all. now, this image of your lifestyle—the attention, the notoriety—fulfills you more than the vice ever did.

you hated being the outcast of society. now, you embrace it. youre embraced for it.

at the end of the day, the message has always been the same: its your life to live. you already saved lives. you already fought your battle. what you choose to do now, even if reckless, is your decision. youve earned it, after all.

except, its not all about you. you still have your platform. you still have your community. youve never lost your influence over the people around you. your carelessness isnt just ruining your own life, its dragging down those around you, too, whether you admit it or not.

you start introducing people into your vice that never shouldve been, all because they misunderstood the dangers due to your normalisation. you failed to warn them. you sought another friend in this lonely world, at their expense. youve begun profiting off of your vice.

your mission was to save lives, including your own, and now youre starting to take away an equal amount. maybe a part of you realises this, but it only makes you cling to your vice harder to cope. more likely, you fail the introspection check, and stay unaware to your damage.

the path to normalisation has taken you many places. events, fame, friendships, even love interests... romance. romanticisation. glorification. you owe it all to your vice, and you will spend the rest of your life paying that debt. you will even hurt others to do so.

once more, you come upon a fork in the road. pause to have a look. the road youre on is cold, dead, and bare. the choice you made, mistook.

@nsuuyo @shibawri I didn't know whether to reply to the first or the last or if any at all is even ok but uhh just wanna say how important and life-saving threads like these are, at least to me. Thank you. Hope you're having the best time you can possibly be having, as always, Cora. Best wishes 🐾

@nsuuyo nigga you need help

@nsuuyo this is incredibly written. thank you

@nsuuyo @DumbElvy why is there an insulin needle though

@nsuuyo Thank you for beautifully curating this. This is something I've been screaming into the void for years. I am eternally thankful to get out when I did, but I still lost friends and watched families suffer losses. 💖 Keep your head up, wherever you are in life.

@jitukayo Always a big fan of these threads

@nsuuyo i got a Temu ad for a money gun on dis..