Whenever I get to where I would kill for a drink, I just remember that a drink would kill. I have done it enough times to realize that for this alcoholic, it is the truth.
When my mother was passing and I was her care giver, I had to take good hard look at personalities, interactions, and how it effected me. The personalities involved were my sister and my brother in law. I allowed it to get ugly for me for a while. People were not behaving up to my standards. I was the equivalent of my two year old self standing in the corner the corner, crying, stamping my feet, and throwing a tantrum. Things were not going the way I thought they should.
Until I realized that I could not change personalities my chances at serenity were nil. I was expecting people to be what I wanted them to be, which is sheer folly because they can only be what they are.
It was not an easy pill to swallow, but it restored my serenity. I let go of my ego that wanted things to be the way I wanted it to be. This allowed my two year to come out of the corner and become the man that I wanted to be.