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Old 12-03-2012, 08:11 PM
  # 10 (permalink)  
Maylie
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 654
Hopeforbella,

You did the right thing.

I have been on both sides and even after getting to see it from the perspective of being an addict and from the perspective of being a loved one of an addict, there still aren't answers or definite ways to handle certain situations.

There really isn't anything you can do to make her stop. The best thing you can do for yourself and for her is to set boundaries. For example, my biggest boundary is that I will not be around active addicts. My boyfriend, who is also a recovering addict, knows that if I ever suspected he had been using that he will be shown the door and that I will not pick up his phone calls. I also have a boundary that no one that is actively using is to come into my apartment or car. If you set boundaries it will be healthier and safer for you, and she will have consequences. If she wants to be there for chirstmas, she will have to be clean. If she wants your support and a relationship with you she will know she will have to be clean, otherwise she will miss out on family events and talking to you until she realizes she is tired of the life she is living. When addicts don't have consequences it helps convince them that they can sustain their lifestyle of using drugs.

My sister once asked me what it would take for me to stop and I couldn't answer her. My bottom was having my friend overdose on my couch and turn blue. My boyfriend had to do CPR and then the cops came treated me like the lowest scum of the earth and ripped my apartment apart and arrested my boyfriend. That was my bottom and that is what made me have enough. My mom and family couldn't love the addiction out of me, being a law student couldn't make me wake up and realize I deserved better than drugs, nothing could make me stop until I had had enough.

Please take care of yourself and take the focus off her and onto you. I know it is really hard, but you need to make sure that you are taken care of. She will find her path when she is ready. As for a christmas gift, I myself will not spend my money giving a gift to someone that is actively using but I have had to completely seperate myself from drugs in order to perserve my own well being and sobriety. Whatever you choose to do, do it because it is the right decision for YOU not her. Because honestly when it comes down to it, her decisions aren't based on love or compassion, they are based on a primal need to sustain her addiction.

hugs

Maylie
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