The material presented
here is not Al-Anon Conference Approved Literature. It is a method
to exchange
information, ideas, feelings, problems and solutions on a personal
level.
Hi, If the family therapy is really good they will encourage/insist that you go to AlAnon as quickly as you can. AlAnon is where you will get YOUR day to day encouragement over a very long period of time. I've been going to AlAnon for 13 years and I learn something every single meeting that I go to.
-- Edited by maryjane on Friday 29th of March 2013 03:04:24 PM
So, I'm new here and new to this world. My AH is in an inpatient treatment facility -- due out a week from Sunday. He's been really taking rehab seriously and the 12 steps. I'm so proud of him and what he is doing for himself.
I am scared, though... I am scared because he is more like the man I married now than he has been in several years (alcoholism was happening w/o my knowledge) which is a good thing, but also frightening. I'm scared when I read posts about relapses and/or situations that don't work out well. I'm scared because I know we have a huge, tough, road ahead of us. I'm scared because I am due to attend an intensive family therapy program at his rehab facility next week. I'm scared because I am afraid I don't know all there is to know about his transgressions. I'm scared to trust him with our children when he gets out -- he was drinking while they were home.
I've not yet attended an Al Anon meeting -- I've been taking care of our 4 kids and working full time while he is in treatment, so that hasn't been able to happen yet. I'm looking forward to therapy next week, but also so very anxious....
Hello Giggleball, welcome and gotta say, I love your nick! All I can say is, read, read, read, read. If you can find a meeting, that would help, if you don't feel ready for intensive family therapy - talk to the therapist about your fears.
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I am strong in the broken places. ~ Unknown
All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another! ~ Anatole France
Welcome, glad you found this page. Rehab is hard work, and it sounds like you recognize that. Fear is normal, but don't think too much about what MIGHT happen. I find face to face Alanon meetings to be very very helpful. When I first joined Alanon, I found it helpful to read as much literature as I could. The books One Day at a Time and Courage to Change are great for keeping me focused on my recovery. Keep coming back and take good care of YOU.
welcome Giggleball i found this page about 9 months ago, and it helped me change my life and attitude, and I grew a lot in knowledge. I basically come here because I have no Al Anon meetings to attend in the country where i live, so I do it all online, the work that needs to be done by myself. I needed a way for things to change, and i found ways. I also come here and read a lot, and share a lot, and get feedback a lot, which I take from what I need, and leave the rest. i wasn't married to an A, nor did I have a family with him...nevertheless I was damaged seriously due to that disease, AND he finally showed me my own defects. Alcoholism is one thing. But those who live around alcoholism usually learned to adapt to the disease in proportions and and time, that some of us stepped out of themselves and learned to live in confusion and fear. I was one of those...fear mainly. The A did what he did, and I tried to bent things straight every time...meet tortuga, the big rescuer of lost souls. lol ......it didn't work....I became a lost soul myself, loosing trust and appreciation in myself.... then I found this place here. and I read, and I asked, and I learned and I researched and I read and I learned, and I got hugged.....and I'm growing, winning back my trust , built up on knowledge about the disease, and knowledge about self-love and self-respect, knowledge about courage and dreams and truth. Fear and anxiety are normal in this situation, don't let them distract you. Change is on the doormat...People are scared of change, because it is unknown. What if change makes things and people better as they ever have been before?? keep coming back and find your own answers, people here know and understand. in support
Thanks, everyone. I've been reading up and educating myself -- looking forward to the family therapy starting tomorrow. I'll come back here and visit and hopefully get to an in person Al Anon meeting soon...
