HOW DO I GET THROUGH BAD DAYS ?

You know the sort of days I mean ...

• you wake up to find him/her asleep on the lounge and smelling of alcohol - been drinking all night
• or, you had planned to do something and find your loved one drunk and angry, or asleep
• or, he or she wants to argue with you for no reason
• or, you have a busy day and he or she keeps ringing you with stupid, drunk stuff

What can we do?

• First - realise and accept that the behaviour you are seeing is caused by alcohol
• Second - accept that most likely, YOU are not the cause of the behaviour
• Third - take a deep breath, and tell yourself that this is NOT YOUR PROBLEM
• Fourth - decide to leave your drinker do what they have to do -
  (remember: you are powerless over alcohol - it is far stronger than you are)
• Finally - decide to do something constructive for YOURSELF

What the above steps can do is to DETACH yourself from the drinking (not the drinker) so that you become less affected by what is going on.

Easy?

NO!  But it is the best way of coping with a bad day and can be learned by trying to do it as often as is necessary. It gets easier each time you do it. Try it.

Nothing is easy living with an alcoholic, but DETACHMENT is one defence we have to separate ourselves from what is going on at home.  It can help us stop going nuts, bananas , wacko or crazy.