RealTalk: The Life of an Ice Addict

Being addicted to ice cubes for 48 hours was harder than most people, including myself, thought it was going to be. When this assignment was first handed out, I just thought I could get by without drinking anything at school. I didn't realize until after I started the exercise how much I actually drink things at school. I like to go to the drinking fountains a lot during classes, mostly just for something to do, but I could no longer do that! Even if I did have an ice cube to put into it while I drank, I was still under risk of someone else seeing. After, I would have had to take the ice cube back out of the fountain to erase my evidence which, let's face it, is really gross. Also, every day at lunch, I drink chocolate milk. Putting an ice cube in milk is risky business. There are so many people in the lunch room, and people I sit by did not have an addiction to ice. A while ago, I asked my friend, Taylor, to never let me leave the lunch line without getting milk because I will always regret it when I start eating my food. During the exercise, I decided not to get milk. When she insisted that I get milk while in the line, I had to keep telling her that I couldn't. I couldn't tell her why, I just kept saying that I was not getting milk. She insisted that I tell her why I was not getting milk and got a little upset when I told her I couldn't tell her why I wasn't getting the milk either. Even though school was rough on my addiction, home was a little easier. For a good portion of my time at home after school, I am alone. After school, I wanted a soda. I had to pour the soda into a class and add an ice cube, which was not a big deal at all. However, when the rest of my family got home from work, it was a little harder but still doable. Most of the time people stay out of the kitchen unless they are eating something. There was one incident with my mom when i needed to put an ice cube in my cup of water. I got it in without her noticing, but I must have looked really suspicious because she asked what was in my cup. I said, "nothing", but then she started accusing me of having other things in my cup. After I kept trying to tell her that there was really only water in my cup, she still wouldn't let me leave the kitchen without showing her my cup. It was easy to get the ice cubes in class where there were other ice addicts present. Devon brought a whole water bottle full of ice only to distribute, but for a price. I had to pay her one Starburst for every ice cube she gave me. It was tough, I really like Starbursts, but I guess that's the price I had to pay. It made me feel awkward when I had to lie to my family and I felt bad when I couldn't tell my friend the truth. But if it was a more serious addiction, I could understand how the person would feel really guilty lying to their friends and family about something so extreme. It is very easy to see how addictions can ruin perfectly good relationships. None of my actions really surprised me, but then again, it was just ice. I knew I had to try to keep it a secret, but when my mom found out she obviously didn't mind that I had ice in my cup. She was probably just glad it wasn't alcohol. I can see how some parents are surprised when they find out their child is using drugs because it is obviously something they teach them not to do. They probably blame themselves for their behavior and they should have seen the signs, hindsight bias. I think that friends would be more likely to notice a change in behavior because the person would not try to be as careful around their friends as they obviously would around their parents. I really enjoyed this exercise; I thought it was fun and insightful and it was also a good opportunity to teach our friends and parents what we are learning in class. 

 haha..get it? Ice-Cube? (;