Fireside

For the first time this morning he said the words, "I'm an alcoholic". Many of you may remember a month ago he said he was done drinking when I gave him an ultimatum...shape up or ship out. I told him he had until the end of the summer to show me is was serious about turning this around.

Of course he thought he could do it himself. But as many of you reminded me, without a recovery program then he wasn't a recovering alcoholic, he was just an alcoholic who wasn't drinking. So last night he passed the bar and everyone was celebrating some coworker's departure. He was sucked in and stayed there for 6 or 7 hours.

So he wakes up this morning feeling awful...sick and disappointed with himself. He said, "I guess I am an alcoholic".

This is where I need the advice of the more experienced....his next question was, "Can you help me?" followed by "What do I need to do?".

See my first response probably would have been a "yipee yes" followed by a long list of people, places and resources to put him in touch with. But I heard all of you in the back of my mind, the collective voice of SR, shouting....don't do it!

So what do I say to him? Do I just pretend that the conversation never occurred? Do I even tell him that this is HIS battle, not mine? I walk the thin line of putting this out of my mind entirely (avoidance) and reacting in a healthy way. What is healthy?

Thanks in advance!