It is all about YOU and YOU are worth it!
Dear DillikiDi:
You have made the biggest and most important step in recovering from your addictions – You have admitted that you do have a problem.
Once we admit that we no longer control a large part of our lives due to our addiction, it then becomes a matter of seeking a solution. One cannot seek a solution without admitting there is a problem.
From reading posts at this site and from subsequent responses, you will learn how each of us approached recovery. Recovery is a very individual thing, and what works for one may not work for another. You must consider and evaluate the processes that addicts have used to address their situation and their selection of a recovery process.
The one thing I can tell you, the next steps have to be about YOU. You cannot be concerned or preoccupied about your husband’s use. You must limit your energies at this time to seeking a program that works for YOU.
You have two wonderful children to love and cherish with many good times to come. You cannot love, nurture nor support them until you love yourself.
At the tender age of 57, married for 32 years, with 2 adult children, and a business owner, this “functional” alcoholic found himself slipping down (fast) a road to total destruction last year. After I took that very first and critical step of admitting my addiction to booze, I voluntarily enrolled in a formal recovery program as an outpatient. The program was supplemented with attending AA meetings. I choose the recovery program because I knew (and my wife) that I needed some real structure to my recovery. It was a financial sacrifice, but well worth it. I have been sober now for 13+ months.
Do not pass up this opportunity to regain your life and your self-esteem. I let way too many years go by before I addressed my addiction, and those years and memories can never be lived over again. I do not dwell nor “hate” myself for the past, as I cannot change the past. The only thing I can change is the moment at hand and tomorrow.
Say the serenity prayer a few times each day to get things going. It is not only beautiful, but all so true.
Keep coming back, because YOU are worth it.