???s for RAs still married after recovery.
For those newly RAs who are still married, I am wondering what special challenges you face in your newly sober relationships. I am married 24 years, 4 kids, 2 in college, and we work together. I am 4 months clean and sober. I was in rehab for two months after a sort of intervention at our workplace, on our 24th wedding anniversary
For us there were years of denial, on both our parts, and lying, isolating, hiding on mine. Her realization of the depth of my addictions and the effect on our family and careers has been a traumatic awakening. Financial, social, emotional costs are staggering. Now that we live in the truth and walls of denial have come tumbling down, it's hard. Harder than when we lived in our own fantasies.
We love each other very much. I am so afraid that her heart will harden as I go through the steps of recovery, before I get the chance to "walk the walk" of the man I know I can be. I think we will survive as a couple, but I don't want to lose the "magic" we once had and believe we could get back.
So, Experience, Strength and Hope requested. For those whose relationships ended after your recovery, what E,S and H do you have?
Mark