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Old 03-17-2009, 04:25 AM
  # 14 (permalink)  
Troubledone
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Posts: 471
I always hesitate to offer advice because it's hard to really know another's life. What I can do is tell you a story about my life for whatever it is worth.

My husband is not an addict, but we had all kinds of marriage trouble. Basically he was immature and I was doing everything. So in many ways the codependence in me was just showing up differently and his drug of choice was TV, hobbies and reading.

We went to marriage counseling, etc. and just when I thought we were making progress (he was doing a little more), he divorced me. After that there was 8 years (yes, 8) where he was back and forth in my life "proving" himself but alwasy doing the bare minimum to keep me "hooked".

One day I said, "do not darken my door again ever until you are changed, period - and I will KNOW the minute I set eyes on you if you are, so don't mess with me." He went away and I moved on. I filed for a annulment (catholic) and started dating. About a year later he shows up - changed.

I believe that I needed that time to become independent (as in not dependent on him for my validation) and I know he needed it to grow up without "support" from me - who had really been his caretaker.

What I learned for me is that letting go was the only way I got my marriage back in a way that is functional. It has been great ever since.

Not all stories end this way, sometimes they go away and stay away - either don't recover or find someone else. I figured out that it was really my dependence that was keeping me stuck, not his pleading.

And - I couldn't let go until I had exhausted all my options.. so I did need the 8 years to get a clue.

I don't know if this helps, but I do know its a rough road.

God Bless you on your journey.
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