Dealing With Addiction
When you have someone in your family or life that is dealing with addiction of any kind this can put hardship on the relationship. I have had many clients come to me with questions of addiction for friends and family members and how to best help them. Though I am not a licensed therapist, and I do recommend anyone dealing with someone with addiction should seek professional guidance, below are some techniques I have given to my clients to help with the situation.
Put Yourself First – In a situation with someone in your life dealing with addiction you need to put yourself first. We have a habit to put others ahead of ourselves in general, but in a situation with addiction it can be even harder to put ourselves first. Those with addiction need to take care of themselves and from all of the clients I work with, I can see there is a lot of fear and concern on their end. They fear the unknown and what will happen if they aren’t physically available 24/7 for this person. So the first step is work on you first.
Letting Go – We need to let go of control and understand how little control we have specifically when dealing with those with addiction. One thing I always advise clients I work with is that the person who has the addiction can still be supported by you, however, it is best to do it from a far and let go of any physical need to be there. As they say on airplanes in the case of an emergency put on your oxygen mask first, then those next to you. So in this case you need to let go of any physical feeling to support and aid the person and instead go back to step one and focus on you.
Support From Afar – Just because you might not be there for the person physically, doesn’t mean you aren’t going to be there to support them emotionally. I am a big supporter of the law of attraction, and this is a great opportunity to use it. I suggest to my clients that you use some of the LOA techniques to help with the healing of someone with addiction. I encourage my clients to write lists of all the good traits this person with addiction has. Write out stories of how you envision having a relationship with this person, and what they can achieve in this world if they weren’t battling addiction. The positive energy submitted through these exercises can only help the situation. You do not need to share this with the person facing the addiction, but it is enough to do the exercises for yourself to generate the positive feelings.
Get Support – If you are still struggling with this situation, do seek professional support. We are so blessed to be in a time in our lives where we can be open and ask freely for assistance, and there are great resources out there for you. So do not be shy to ask for help, just the act of asking helps to move the direction forward in a positive way.
Have specific questions about someone in your life facing addiction? A Skype or phone reading might help you.