Audience: Parent/Loved One
You didn’t want to believe they were an addict, which is why it was fine they were going out with friends to hang out.
But there’s only one problem: It was four days ago they went out, they haven’t been back since and this is the fourth consecutive night you’ve gone to bed hoping you’ll see them in the morning.
This isn’t the first time they’ve gone missing, and you know what kind of condition they’ll be in when they finally come back home. The condition where when they do come back, it’ll be a few days before they stay awake consistently after they remain sleep so deeply you wonder if they’re conscious. You’ve become used to the sweating, the sudden screams from nightmares, shaking and aching. Medicine and remedies for the blemishes on their face will enter your mind only after you bathe them since you know (and can smell) they didn’t shower nor brush their fragile teeth when they were gone. Talking to them, you remember, will be almost pointless since they’ll struggle to even make sense when they speak.
You think, “it’s fine, I’ve got the routine down to nurse them back to normal. I know what they’ll need and I’ll get them up and running again like always.”
Denying Your Loved One is an Addict
A feeling in your gut. A voice in your head. An emotion in your heart. Whatever it is, there’s an instinct that comes over you that haunts with the fear your dear loved one could be an addict. It’s probably been with you for quite some time now, yet you deny it because you don’t want to believe it.
We all want what’s best for our loved ones because we love them and care about their well-being. Their happiness is essential to our own, which is a fundamental element to our love. To believe they could be a powerless to a real addiction is, well, just crazy when it first enters your mind.
So, you take the easy way out and deny it. Then you deny it again. Next, you deny it some more. It gets to the point where you’ve got it buried to the far depths of your mind and you overlook it because you only want to see the good in your loved one. You do anything and everything you can to run away from facing the truth head-on. The first stage of grief and loss is indeed denial, and you fear your loved one as you know them is gone and you’ll never get them back. People fear change because it is unknown, and you don’t know the addict that has now become your loved one, so denial becomes a routine weapon of choice for you.
Stay tuned for Part II!
To begin a loved one on their road to recovery from their addiction, call The Discovery House today at 888-962-8208.