Thread: I need to vent
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Old 05-25-2012, 01:48 PM
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EnglishGarden
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: new moon road
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Healthy relationships involve mutual agreements, not one person dictating to the other how it's going to be. A relationship based solely on just one person's terms will not last long.

But a healthy relationship, in my opinion, is simply not possible with someone in early sobriety. His brain has not had enough time to change. Change within the addict brain takes time, it is not book-learned, it is the result of gradual, experiential change. Right now he is still dealing with cravings, distorted thinking, confusion, possibly depression, and the absence of self-knowledge. He has very little to offer you.

If you need a genuine relationship involving time and attention and care and intimacy, those needs will not be met with him, for quite some time.

His boundary is 2 hours a week and no sex. Decide what you need in relationship, then set your own boundaries. Not to one-up him. Decide for yourself what your needs are concerning serious relationship, and if being tossed small bits of time and attention, and a requirement of celibacy, does not meet your needs, then you will have to face the reality that you are not with right person right now. Early recovery often involves separation and distance, and only you can decide if you will accept those terms.

It will do no good to try to talk him out of his requirements. You have to decide what yours are.
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