12-Step Programs are filled with a lot of family members of addicts.
They, themselves, don't realize that they are addicts when they begin attending.
They are there to support their "addict."
Their son or daughter; their husband or wife.
Soon, though, it hits them.
They, too, are addicts.
They have become co-dependent on their family member's addiction.
They have lost their own agency through addiction.
The interesting thing about almost ALL of these attendees is that their addict family member stopped attending after meeting one or two.
But these people never stop attending.
They find such power in healing and recovering from their own, new-found addictions.
They tend to be all-in.
They are learning to set boundaries for their addict family member.
They are learning to take back their agency.
They are learning who they, themselves, are.
They are finding joy.
There is one couple, in particular, that I just love.
Husband and wife, in their late fifties.
Their son is a chemical addict.
He attended one meeting, then stopped.
Due to that addiction, and a lack of boundaries, they developed their own addictions.
The father has an eating addiction.
He has become medically obese, as he has eaten all of his feelings.
The mother has become addicted to control, a very real process addiction.
And through those coping mechanisms, they lost their own agency to addiction.
I love their insights, always.
They are all-in with this program.
They have attended weekly for over two years, having gone through the twelve steps over and over again.
Unwilling to allow their addictions to have negative effects on them, their marriage or their family any longer.
Addiction recover is brave.
But, it is also messy.
You and I are worthy.
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