Addictions Hurt More Than Just the Addict - How to Recover From Living With an Alcoholic

If you live with or have lived with an alcoholic, you can recover from it. Addiction can hurt you more than you think. Remember, you can't fix a person. Your partner, spouse, parent, or friend must admit they have an addiction. Most alcoholics are in denial. They can't recognize and see they have a problem. However, you can take control of your life and heal from alcoholism. If you had a parent (or both) that was an alcoholic, it wasn't your fault. They had issues that had nothing to do with you. Chances are they had issues within their childhood that weren't resolved which led them to drink. Whatever you do, get help. Join groups, journal, and get counseling because you can recover from living with an alcoholic.

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Addictions Hurt More Than Just the Addict - How to Recover From Living With an Alcoholic

ALCOHOLIC

Get counseling. You could benefit from counseling. Work with a counselor who'll help you to move forward with your recovery. If you keep lamenting about the alcoholic and how he/she affected you, it will keep you stuck. You want to understand your part. Why did you stay as long as you did with your alcoholic partner/spouse? How did your alcoholic parent affect your childhood? How do you internalize the affects of alcoholism? Children who grow up with an alcoholic parent(s) will benefit from counseling. They need to know it's not their fault; they didn't do anything wrong.

Join Al-Anon or some other support group. It may help you to join a group that addresses living with an alcoholic. You may benefit from knowing that you're not the only one who's lived with an alcoholic. The key is not to become stuck within your story. You're more than a person who's lived with an alcoholic. It's an experience that you can learn and move forward from them.

Forgive yourself. If you stayed with an alcoholic, forgive yourself and forgive the alcoholic. You may have stayed with an alcoholic partner/spouse because you felt guilty for leaving. Perhaps you had children and didn't want to break up the family, didn't have anywhere to go, or weren't strong enough to leave the relationship. Forgive yourself and the alcoholic who was in your life. You did the best you could as they did. If you grew up with an alcoholic parent, forgive yourself if you had 'negative' feelings. It was only natural. Forgive yourself if you blamed yourself for your parent's disease. Forgiveness can set you free!

Are you living with an alcoholic?

Living with an alcoholic can be challenging. Even though you love an alcoholic, it may be in your best interest to leave the relationship. What are you getting out of the relationship? What is it that makes you stay? How is it serving you? How healthy is it for you? Why do you think it's healthy? Ask yourself these and other questions to assess your reason why you're staying. You may have a fear that you won't find someone else or that you're abandoning the person. Do what's best for you. You may be doing more harm than good by staying in the relationship. Don't be an enabler. Get help and get out!

You can recover from living an alcoholic

You can recover from living with an alcoholic. Forgiveness is the key. Forgive yourself and the alcoholic. You're not condoning the action or saying, "What you did to me was okay," you're simply releasing yourself from the situation. If you grew up with an alcoholic parent, forgive them. They did the best they could at the time. Remember, it wasn't your fault. Chances are alcoholism runs in the family. If it does, you have a 90% chance of becoming an alcoholic. Of course, this doesn't have to happen. You can choose not to become an alcoholic. What will it be!

Addictions Hurt More Than Just the Addict - How to Recover From Living With an Alcoholic

ALCOHOLIC