Were there any addicts in your family when you were growing up? Frequently someone with an alcoholic parent becomes an enabler to other people because they're so used to coping with the chaos of living in an alcoholic home. I'm only conjecturing here, so correct me if I'm wrong.
Don't feel guilty about screening your calls. After all, you can only listen to someone bellyache about the same old problem so many times
Yep!! My mom is an alcoholic..has been since before the day I was even born(btw i was born at a mere 4 pounds even). However I didn't live with my mom much growing up..kinda on and off from birth through 5th grade, but from 5th grade on I lived with my sister....which well developed her own drinking problem over the years. She has now been sober 3+ years thank god :-) Then of course I have my 2 brother...one an alcoholic, the other a drug abuser. As for my dad...well parents divorced when I was only 3, but he just preferred to smack people around, I got my end of that deal when I was 16, ended up in the police station and ER. Now my dad and I have wonderful relationship however and he has changed. Yep....amazing as it may sound, I for one never got addicted to drinking, never even TRIED drugs and never even smoked cigs....okay well i did for about a month lol. I have an occasional drink..maybe 5-6 per year. I get scared if I start to drink much more then that. But yes, I do think I draw these people in some aspects. I've actually been told by people that I should become a counselor because I'm so good at helping people. Thing is.....I don't think I could handle a job like that.