My loved one is addicted part 2

How do you know what your life purpose is? Can you use your experiences to heal others and yourself? As you know I recently became certified as a law of attraction coach. Now that I have the training I must take my experiences, make sense of them and share them with others as a way to make those experiences count. If you have not read my previous blog post please do so now. 

My initial training is in social work. I have spent the last 26 years working in mental health specifically and at least half of that time working with substance abusers.  The other half of the time I spent working with our mentally ill consumers. 

As I wrote in my last blog while working in our SA programs my husband who was initially in recovery moved into relapse. I could spend a bunch of time trashing him or sharing war stories but this blog is about me and my recovery. The first major point I want to make is 1. Trashing the alcoholic/addict especially in public or in front of family/children only makes matters worse. My oldest daughter was 4 when the addiction came out. She is now 21 and told me recently that her first memory was of me throwing her dad out of the house. Although now she understands our relationship was forever changed. 

To say my oldest was oppositional was an understatement. Every encounter with her seemed like war. She once threw her mattress across the room. As I said before this is not about them it is about me. I became depressed. I was working, trying to raise a very angry daughter and grieving the loss of the future I thought our family was going to have. The second big thing I need to share is that the anger is only in small part about the actions/inactions of the alcoholic/addict. 2. The anger at my husband was not from his actions as much as the loss of the dream I had about our future. My expectations created the ongoing pain and resentment I was feeling. The importance of this point is astronomical! Only when I got to the point that I could see that was I in a position to begin healing. 

I know what you are thinking because I thought this too. "I am not the problem he/she is the problem. If they would get sober then things would be okay". This leads me to the third major point. 3. My pain is only going to go away when I make the decision to work on myself. Sobriety is not the key to happiness. Even if the blessing of sobriety comes to your house there are still unresolved hurts and anger that must be dealt with on all sides for full family healing to take place. That being said sobriety does not come to every household. So what does that mean? 4. Sobriety is not essential for the family members to begin the healing process. If you are like me this really pisses you off because it did me. They can just check out on life and their responsibilities while I have to do all this hard work on myself to help myself and my children/grandchildren (One thing I learned from my work is that there are now many grandparents that are raising their grandchildren due to the addiction of their grown child). 

Although the loved one could be a parent, child, spouse or other significant person in your life the road to your healing is the same. For me initially my healing came from Al-anon meetings. I did not learn about coaching until many years later. I still go to meetings weekly as a way to keep focus. If I had not found this program and continued to use it I would have completely lost it.  

My journey did not end with my husband going to treatment. How could I go back to work dealing with addiction all day long? How was I going to reconnect with my oldest daughter who was out of control angry at me and not her dad (that part really sucked)? There will be more of my story in my next post.  

Are you hurting? Would you like to begin the healing process? Please contact me! I can help you begin the healing process right away or help you get to the place where you feel confident to start meetings.  

If you want to connect with like minded people please join my new Facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/Mylovedoneisaddicted/

Are you an enabler? Enabling extends the addiction and makes using comfortable or easy which delays the recovery process for your loved one.  

My Loved One is Addicted

What do you do when the Universe is pushing you to share your experience, strength and hope but the story is so personal that writing it down for others to read is painful? That is the position I have found myself in recently as a newly certified coach. I have come to realize that my story is important to who I am and that if you are going to trust me to help you with your journey my journey should be made public.  

One of the things I was taught this past year is that "what you resist persists".  In law of attraction terms what you focus on expands and if you have resistance around something then it will continue to hang around until it is dealt with.  

My self esteem issues started young and primarily centered around weight issues. I grew up in a family riddled with alcoholism on both sides but recovery entered my home when I was young thankfully. My grandparents lived in Akron,Ohio which is the Mecha for Alcoholics Anonymous and as the story goes the program was birthed there in the carriage house of what later became Stan Hewitt Hall. Multiple family members were in the program and I was around the program as a young child. My focus, however, was drinking cokes out of bottles and eating cake at the end.  Little did I know these experiences would foreshadow my personal and professional journey. 

Jump ahead to college and graduate school where my self esteem issues were a problem and my behavior although not much different than most college students was causing me problems.  I socialized with very few people and when I did I partied hard. While in graduate school for Social Work a close friend of mine went to treatment and I was devastated. Not only was I devastated but I was lost. How could my social life be tied completely to only one person? I was advised by my mother of all people to go to Al-Anon. This program has brought me more peace and understanding than I could have ever hoped for.  Al-Anon is a 12 step program for family and friends of alcoholics. I have since been attending for over 25 years and the tools I was taught helped me through every area of my life.

Now back to spring of 1989 I began attending the meetings, started feeling stronger and happier. In those meetings I was also introduced to a very handsome and charming (they are all very charming at the beginning) blonde haired and blue eyed recovering addict/alcoholic that I later married.   Are you beginning to see where I am going with this?

I began my job at the local mental health center and found myself working in the substance abuse division due to my extensive understanding of 12-step programs. I ran groups, did assessments, coordinated an inpatient program for women and as the job description reads "any other duties as assigned". Little did I know that as I worked day in and day out with addicts and alcoholics my life was about to take a devastating turn. Right under my trained nose my husband was in full relapse and I had no idea. 

In the next few blog posts I will share with you my experience with addiction. How it devastated me personally and professionally. How addiction effected my marriage and my children. How I eventually found my life again and how I now have the experience to help others with similar issues through my coaching programs. This is a series you will not want to miss. These blogs will be difficult and emotional for me to write but for me to help you I must lay it all out to show you that there is hope and that the Universe has your back in all the dark times. I wish I had these coaching tools along with my support groups back then. I know my journey would have been easier.  

Has your life been affected by someone else's addiction? If so I want to invite you to join my new Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Mylovedoneisaddicted/

You don't have to go through this journey alone!! Are you ready to heal?