Are You Drowning In Your Child's Addiction
Now that I am on the other side of losing myself in my child’s addiction, I sometimes look back and wonder: when exactly did I lose my footing and find myself submerged beneath the waters? At first, I was floating just below the surface, my head still able to breech the water for a brief glimpse at a reality that no longer applied to me, before sinking back below the surface to hide from the truth I couldn’t face.
Memories of the many years I spent relaxing in the sun, my whole body above the water, easily sashaying through my days, oblivious to what was happening so obviously and openly around me. I was naïve, but more than anything I was busy. Carpool lines, PTA, social obligations stacked one on top of the other, filling my days with the nonsense of living…focused on no real purpose other than to keep moving, showing up, being seen.
Remember that brief time in parenting when you still believed you were in control? You could send your children to their rooms…and they would go semi-obligingly; you could control the friends they spent time with and the activities they were allowed to pursue. Our children were beautiful blank slates where we could write our expectations, dreams, and hopes – or so we thought. These precious beings we loved in a way that was unimaginable to grasp before we held them in our arms…an extension of our very souls.
Children grow up fast, but it’s often many years before their parents do. I was quite happy in denial, imagining I still had some sort of authority over their choices, but as children grow older, the parental grip slips away, only to be replaced by the other influences our children encounter on the journey of living – sometimes for the better, but other times for the worse.
Has your child vanished? Gone without a trace left of who they once were in your memory and heart? When children choose substance abuse, parents become victims as well, often buckling under the stress, guilt and stigma attached to this disease.
Regardless of your child’s choices, you don’t have to throw your life away. Everyone deserves to be happy and supported in their lives, and that includes you. Take it from someone who learned that lesson much later in life than I would have hoped: you deserve happiness. And no matter what you’ve been through, happiness is achievable.
What is Life Coaching?
Coaching is a forward-looking approach to healing and growth. I create a non-judgement space for you to gain confidence, shatter your negative limiting beliefs, implement boundaries, and start living in a place of peace and abundance. Are you willing to get uncomfortable, challenge your comfort zone, and take steps to reclaim control of your life?