By David Joel Miller, MS, Licensed Therapist & Licensed Counselor.

When your lover is an addiction it is not a healthy relationship.

Human lovers may be with you for a lifetime or they can come and go – but that addiction is always there for you. Some people have love or sex addictions. They can’t stand the thought of being alone or not having a partner. They settle for a bad relationship in preference to being alone. They can’t seem to develop a healthy relationship with themselves.

If your lover is Gambling, alcohol, or drugs you know that your addiction will be waiting for you, demanding your devotion as human partners come and go.

The love of your life may be shopping or the go-in-debt-at-home channel. It may be hoarding useless things. Most any activity can become an addiction if you can’t stop thinking about it and eventually you lose control and have to do it one more time, whether you wanted to or not.

Clearly, drugs and their older sneakier cousin, Alcohol, win the contest for addictions that can take control of you.

Most people with addictions become closer to their addiction, often a drug of choice than to the humans in their life. Somehow we hold on to that love for that addiction even when it begins to treat us badly.

I have seen a number of people stuck in bad relationships with other humans. Eventually, most of them have had enough. They either come for counseling and try to change their relationship, or they decide to leave the other person. Occasionally someone hangs on even though they know that this is not a good relationship. They hang on because the prospect of letting go feels worse to them than the pain of staying.

It is even worse when the partner you are leaving is an addiction.

People who give up their addiction are letting go of their best friend, their lover, and their full-time life companion.

They tell me that partners come and go but that “Crystal” is always there for them. Women may reject you but “Sherry” is there in the bottle waiting for you. And your drug of choice, it always changes the way you feel. Until it begins abusing you.

Having had a long-term relationship with a drug of choice results in a lot of grief and loss issues when you finally decide to give her up.

While you are grieving over your lost partner, Whisky or Beer, wine or Meth, everywhere you go there are people trying to get you two back together again.

Your friends, they all know “Crystal” and “Sherry” and they tell you – have just one more for old-time sake. Even the stores are out to get you with their reminders of your lost love. The beer is stacked up by the door and the milk is at the end of the wine aisle.

Like any other lost love when you are trying to get over an addiction everywhere you go there are reminders.

Do not give up. Going back to an addiction is not a way to find happiness. Eventually, the grief will pass and you will find a new happier life waiting for you.

Staying connected with David Joel Miller

Seven David Joel Miller Books are available now!

My newest book is now available. It was my opportunity to try on a new genre. I’ve been working on this book for several years, but now seem like the right time to publish it.

Story Bureau.

Story Bureau is a thrilling Dystopian Post-Apocalyptic adventure in the Surviving the Apocalypse series.

Baldwin struggles to survive life in a post-apocalyptic world where the government controls everything.

As society collapses and his family gets plunged into poverty, Baldwin takes a job in the capital city, working for a government agency called the Story Bureau. He discovers the Story Bureau is not a benign news outlet but a sinister government plot to manipulate society.

Bumps on the Road of Life. Whether you struggle with anxiety, depression, low motivation, or addiction, you can recover. Bumps on the Road of Life is the story of how people get off track and how to get your life out of the ditch.

Dark Family Secrets: Doris wants to get her life back, but small-town prejudice could shatter her dreams.

Casino Robbery Arthur Mitchell escapes the trauma of watching his girlfriend die. But the killers know he’s a witness and want him dead.

Planned Accidents  The second Arthur Mitchell and Plutus mystery.

Letters from the Dead: The third in the Arthur Mitchell mystery series.

What would you do if you found a letter to a detective describing a crime and you knew the writer and detective were dead, and you could be next?

Sasquatch. Three things about us, you should know. One, we have seen the past. Two, we’re trapped there. Three, I don’t know if we’ll ever get back to our own time.

For these and my upcoming books; please visit my Author Page – David Joel Miller

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