Is the dance music scene just a mental health clinic for people of like minds?

I was just sitting pondering life and its meanings, typical aquarian that i am.....
Is this dance music scene a dead end escape from reality? Having been a recreational drug user for 10 years, (now reformed) and an active part of the dance music community for over half that time, i have for no real reason decided to take a step back and and look at things through non-rose coloured glasses.

Are the friendships real? Do you sometimes wonder if people you regard as friends keep a sharpend knife close to hand for the minute your back is turned? I have found such bulls*%t to be of common place. The people you class as some of your closest friends, that have been there for years, suddenly turn, on some bizzare tangent, and things are never the same. I guess its probably normal in most cases throughout various lifestyles, but do the effects of excessive recreational drug use and the things our parents told us about ("drugs are bad for you") play a part in our friendships?

Of course it is possible that friendships can be ruined in no time because of drug related circumstances...and it is friends who help us through life when things get tough.The fact that ecstasy is proven to cause depression due to the bodies poor production of ceritonin, is setting us up for a huge downfall.The last thing we need to feel is depressed, esspecially if our bodies' natural defence to depression is weakend. (ok maybe im depressed about some things in life....im not preaching, just curios)

Maybe im just crazy....do other people have similar concerns?

Sure!! The music and parties are all so great and so much fun. Its a great release....an escape from reality....."reality therapy"....You meet new people each week, some become friends, others just a familiar face in the crowd. We hear great music, and see great musical talent unfold before our eyes. We forever get to see the sun rise, or 'normal people' out walking there dogs or going on a family picnic. Meanwhile our eyes are hanging out of our heads, and the search is on for more....

And then there is the bad side.

People fcuk up before your eyes on the dance floor.... Too many flashing lights? (respect to the lighting tech's) Too many pills? Too much GG? The ambulance arrives but not to many people want to say to much. So..... someone dies? Someone loses a friend to ignorance? A family loses a cherished member to lifestyle? What are the answers to these questions? Who has the answers?
The promoters? The Dj's?.........

You have the answers... You are the answer....
Im not trying to stop anyone from taking drugs recreationally, or distance yourself from the dance music scene, i just want for you to have a think about things a little harder and try to predict where you are heading. Friends come and go, but it would be better if they could all stay...

If i make one person think a little more about these few pionts, it might just make a difference.

Dont take life for granted, we get it once and once only, we cant come back and start again, but we can use our thoughts, hopes, and prospects, to our best advantage and make the one life we have everything we want life to be.

Thankyou for your time

Thane
xx

Obviously you seem to have forgotten the wholre reason why people start taking drugs in the first place - that is too have fun.
I thinik you are suffering from a serious comedown and that you should stop being so paranoid.
Maybe the reason why you have lost your friends is because you carry on the way that you do

Keep it hard, thrashed out hardcoreSHAZA

I never said i have lost all my friends. Some people it seems have just seemed to fade away.

Carry on? Carry on like what? Having an opinion isnt a bad thing.

For a more detailed and upto date explanation, see the same title under the "general" area of the disscussion.

Thanks for having something to say.

Thane

I've heard it a thousand times, and the answer always seems to be this-what you are pondering is a subjective matter.
I've seen people @!#$ up on drugs, but ive seen people truly seem alive for the first time in their lives on them aswell, ive seen fake people who sheathe their weapons until the back is turned, ive seen real people whos embrace will always be true, and are watching the turned back, to protect you from those enemies unseen, and if too late atleast give you safe arms to rest in, and make the bad well worth it
so really it is up to you, i have grown predominantly in a positive manner from this lifestyle, and i am happy with my current choices, but im am never ignorant enough to think it cant turn bad, and thus in this freefall i always have my hand ready to pull the cord before it gets too late, but the way things are heading now, i have many years as an exploratory user left, but essentially thane i believe this is what you are saying, and that is why i like your overall approach, you pose an open ended question, to be answered according to the individual, is it right for you, and if every drug user, ever raver, every human being in every walk of life isnt asking themselves if their life choices are right for them, then that should be considered ignorance
but i disagree with the context in which you use reality, reality is defined by the individual, as it is purely how signals perceive the world, if you change a thought, reality changes around you, tat is another reason i like taking drugs, or for that matter doing anything that takes on a different mindset, because it gives you another perception of reality, and the more varied views on reality, the more knowledgeable you are about the world around you, since when did reality become a majority rules concept, especially when the majority have no idea about even their own narrow views of reality, anyone even remotely self concious should realise they have more than a lifetimes knowledge still to learn at all points in life, and as such cannot put boundaries on reality, only ones percieved themselves, the wall is only white because you believe it is white, it is only the way signals in the brain perceive light hitting an object, never let people tell you the wall can only be seen as white. so id call it "programmed reality therapy" maybe, an escape to a reality less programmed, thats what ego softening is, ego is basically ones belief that their concept of reality is more correct than anothers, ego softening opens up barriers, so as to accept a wider concept of reality.
more important than the drug issue, or rave issue, id say learn, knowledge can be true power, learn from everyone, the university philosopher, or the poor street bum alcoholic who begs for anything he can get in the middle of rundle mall everyday, they both have something new to say, or then again dont, life is purely a choice, that will lead to further choices.
thats it for my topic jumping post. I apologise for the grammar, i wrote this quickly, and paid little attention, so long as it is readable, and is easy for comprehension

thankyou if you read this entire spiel.(from one aquarian to another)

Wow!
Thankyou. I like the way you see things. We have a common way of thinking in some ways. I have been taken back a step by your views and i invite you to email me any time. I would like to communicate with you further, not specifically this subject, just in general. Please: [email removed]

thankyou, i would be glad to trade e-mails, or general conversation from any method. [email removed]

Thane,

your mental health as been all over the place in the last 5 years... but from what I have seen and heard lately... it's been much better!!

You just keep taking the medication!

From what I hear, Xylic should be on medication too LOL!!

hahaha, do i know you?

its the medication thats doing my head in i think

Me brings this forum out of the past out of blatent necessity. So sick of this association, which sadly, unlike most generalisations is true. We hang out with seriously LOST ppl. Is that cool? Doesn't sit well in my stomach.

This is all very interesting and it seems things have not changed in the last 2 years. And in two years to come..?

Me: Raving for year and a half. I go for the music (true, true, true) and to have a night out dancing, or dressing up or just spending time with friends. I don't just rave, I spend time with friends OUT of this scene... god forbid everyone needs to do that - or do they..?

"Friends": Only those that I was friends with before, who got me into the scene or come out with me now. Hardly any that I would call 'friends' that I've meet thru raving. Fake PLUR exist - don't deny it! Totally agree with what thane had to say on that side of thing.

Sense of community: Too much of a tight knit community - everyone knows everyone, everyone knows everything that everyone has done, everyone can make up shit about you and everyone will believe it.

Why?: Maybe too many drugs..? People become paranoid and basically have psychoses..?

Drugs: (1) people take it to get happy (2) body goes 'why make serotonin anymore.. I've got drugs' Downregulation (3) And then, you can't make serotonin, you're depressed - you're tired, you can't sleep (you've fucked up your dopamine receptors too!) (4) go to doctor, get put on anti-depressants cos you are unhappy all the time. Fail to tell doctor you are taking other happy drugs, why..? Cos - hello - uppers AND MORE uppers when you combine the two! Woot says body - double happiness (5) Body fuked up, never happy, paranoid, drug fucked, can't sleep - ever - no life, all of a sudden you are 60..! Blah blah blah... hasn't happened to me, or do I see it happening - or to any of my friends - but I see it and know of it in other 'friends'.

Spelling: Serotonin, not ceritonin - sheesh.

Yeah, it's a sad, sad, place - but all that aside, there are positives - most people go to spend time 'out of reality' and dance and enjoy themselves. Pity all this comes with just wanting to have a little bit of fun. You have to know where the reality starts and ends.

Anyways, what do people think 2 or 3 years on..? It's just how I see it - so... waiting for it - flame on

thane, i think that's something that people think about alot of the time but never actually discuss, well done for bringing it up and being open!

maybe it's time to start taking drugs again !

I have given this much thought myself on more than one occassion. still don't know what the answer is but here is my 5c anyway!

Approximately 25% of the population use/try recreational drugs (according to various surveys). The other 75% use alcohol to get to the same place/state.

So is raving/clubbing bad for your health/mental state? Probably. Is getting plastered with alcohol regularly instead any better? Probably not.

With the friends issue you can only judge that on your own experience over the past 10 years - with partying. I would bet my life that if you had not partied at all the last 10 years your fears and insecurities about the loyalty of friends would be exactly the same. This is not a chemical/depression issue this is a people issue. Let's be honest there are a lot of c*nts out there.

There will always be people who go too hard with drugs and have no self respect for their bodies, those same people are probably the ones that get paro every time they go to the pub or end up in casualty coughing up their stomach linings.

People used to go out and dance and celebrate in the bible, so nothing has changed much ... I think as with everything in life - moderation is the key!

Where the fuck did these idiots spring up from?

yeah i was rather confused till i read the dates

Mental health clinic?

I've seen more people lose it in the drug taking scenes (Not just dance music) than any others...
PLUR to them.

Here i am. 3 years on and had fully forgotten about my post from way back when.
I've kind of faded from the scene but still come back here now and then for an update on the goings on.

All is good. I've found that taking a step back and looking at the big picture, life is much better on the on the other side!

I thank NIK-O-LAKI for bringing this thread out from the dust and cobwebs, and to everyone who has made posts. Its been an interesting read and to take another look at myself 3 yrs on brings clarity to my normalness.

Party on.

Analysis paralysis analysis paralysis...................

well its been i say 3 years for me now ... and im still kicking on and still got many friends in witch is pretty good.

so no complaints from here ... but proberly complaints about me

In A 12 Step Program They Say To Go Back And Look At Your Errors.. Is This Part Of It?

God knows who dug this thread up again ... but if anyone has found anything more fun than raving to do ... can you let me know!

Since when has reality been any healthier? A life with balance is far more rewarding! ... all work and no play makes for an uninteresting and unfulfilled life.

Life is there to lived - however we choose! And until re-incarnation is proven, we are only gonna get one shot at it!!!

:-)

Ntrance, i think you'll find most people find it hard to live healthy lives and find balance from prolonged recreational drug use.

Ntrance i agree with what you say. Too much of anything will tip the balance. Life for me is one giant quest to find that balance.

BTW, 20 years of marriage? Congratulations on enduring for that long.

20 years of marriage is far worse than drug and alcohol abuse.