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Old 03-18-2024, 09:56 AM
  # 7 (permalink)  
mattmathews
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Litchfield Park, AZ
Posts: 323
My spouse is the alcoholic, but honestly up to the point that my wife went into rehab...I drank my share. It wasn't something I talked about in Al-Anon meetings for a long time, and I went 7 years without having a drink, and still rarely drink. I think that qualifies me as being "not an alcoholic," but I worried about that for a while. That's my experience.
Here are my thoughts on your situation: Absolutely, trust your gut. You may miss out on a few good guys, but frankly, you're going to have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince. Might as well stack the odds in your favor. (Note: If you latch on to the first, or the second, or the third guy that comes along...you may not be doing "dating" right. Sorry.)
You should be aware, the craving for alcohol is just one symptom of being an alcoholic. You're going to meet guys that are currently not drinking, or who hide their drinking, or who are ex-addicts, or who are gamblers, or who are sex addicts, etc. etc. etc. Especially if you come from a family with a history of alcoholism, you may just be attracted to alcoholics. I think I may be, but I've only been married once, so who knows?!
I once heard the spouse of an alcoholic, in recovery, say that she'd decided to stick with him because the odds were that she'd just marry another alcoholic anyway. Her solution was to attend Al-Anon meetings, learn everything she could about alcoholism, boundaries, detachment...etc. Maybe that person's story stuck with me because it reflected my own.
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