Originally Posted by
WorriedGuy 
Occasionally a friend and I will go for a beer or 2 on a Friday after work. Sometimes I would go out and get drunk (once every 2 months or so). My own drinking that I was talking about was before I realized she had a problem. But now that I am aware that she has a problem with drinking, you are right, I might need to stop drinking forever. I was planning to not drink for 1 month to see if she would/could do it too, but maybe a permanent "no more drinking" policy would be better. What is your experience on this?
What I have seen is that my choice to stop has had very little if no effect on helping my GF in her struggle. I can say it has helped by not having alcohol in the house to trigger the desire to drink. She seems more apt to do something if it is in front of her; although when a relapse is bad NOTHING will stop/help her but her. She has confided to me that certain activities, places, and people act as triggers for her too. Those we promptly removed from our lives because those aspects are clearly defined and easily dealt with. The bottom line, from my perspective, is that my choice has probably helped in a very minor and indirect way but it has helped me a lot knowing that I did something that I feel good about. You sound like you really care about your GF. Your being here at SR says a lot. Now that you have an idea of what this is, keep reading and you will uncover many, many questions that you will have to answer for yourself. Hang in there friend.