How do I help a loved one who is struggling in their addiction

@mommy04

Congratulations on starting your recovery journey! I can tell you really care about this other person, but please just take time right now to work on keeping yourself healthy and on the right track. You will need all your strength, resilience and patience to get through this yourself so just try to stay completely in tune with your needs right now. And hopefully that person will see your success and happiness and want to follow your path.

Sending you lots of prayers for continued strength and peace ❤️

Boundaries are incredibly important, and also incredibly difficult. The biggest thing i can say is, be kind to yourself. It is so hard to love someone with an addiction. Help them find support and groups and therapy, and let them know that, while you love them, relationships are also conditional, and set some boundaries of what you are not okay with and what you need in order to feel safe/mentally healthy. Don't be afraid to tell them what they don't want to hear, but need to hear, in a loving but strict way. Remind them that they are not a bad person, but they did make bad choices and those choices often hurt you. You love them, but let them know you also have to love and respect yourself. And have compassion for yourself, it took me months to understand all this and to truly set boundaries that I don't break. It's rough