Living with a Functioning Alcoholic

I don’t know how or when it happened, it just kinda crept up on us but suddenly it was there…addiction

Addiction is an emotive word – it brings to mind very negative images, but no two addictions are the same and the effect it has on the people who live with it day in and day out can be all-consuming. When I first began to recognise what we were now living with, I tried to find out as much as I could about addiction. Often the descriptions of alcohol addicts did not seem to fit with my experience because they were more extreme and further into their alcohol journey. Often these people had lost jobs, been caught for driving under the influence, had serious financial issues and had destroyed marriages and personal lives. This did not apply to our situation.

I then came across the term high-functioning alcoholic and I started to recognise the features in my partner. But what about me! I totally underestimated the impact this would have on me and my relationships with family and friends. I did not have many people I could talk to about it and there was not much I could find about other people’s experience of living with this problem, so I thought I would write a blog. This is as much for my own reflection of my own journey, but if it were to give anyone else any comfort that they are not alone, that would be wonderful, because only we know how lonely and isolating loving someone with alcohol addiction can be.

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