Apparently, everyone's on steroids now
Bookmarked Why Is Everyone on Steroids Now? | GQ by Condé Nast.
Fascinating read from GQ on how the use of steroids is, apparently, skyrocketing. Some absolutely wild quotes from users. Here's "A.B.":
At the time, A.B. didn’t like his job and had endured a bad breakup. “The gym was the only thing keeping me going,” he said. Today, he’s no longer using, partly because he found a new job he loves. “If things were worse, I’d probably hop back on to cope, if I felt like I was at rock bottom,” he admitted.
Performance enhancing drugs being used recreationally, as an anti-depressant. "T.B." adds to the picture with potential downsides to steroid use:
As for downsides, he noticed his moods and emotions could shift unpredictably—and during periods when he stopped using, he felt fatigued and gained weight. Also, “your balls will shrink up,” he said, echoing a number of other conversations. “Not crazy, but you’ll notice a change.”
Yeah, I think I'm gonna pass. And that's before we get into the potential long-term effects like cardiovascular disease and liver damage.
The general gist seems to be that people want to get bigger, and faster, and that way feel better about themselves. It's emblemic of so much of what's wrong with today's society. Going out and doing something that's good for you isn't enough in and on its own. Instead, all value is apparently derived from comparing yourself against some societal metric. Whether talking about what you can lift, how fast you can run, or how many likes you're getting.