Waiting on someone you love to come home from an all night drinking binge or wondering if that person will ever come home at all can be the most miserable time imaginable.

When you love someone you want to believe. When you love someone you want to be strong. But when the person you love is addicted it is easy to become overwhelmed with fear, distrust, resentment, guilt, worry and upset. A relationship that would otherwise be somewhat close to perfect ends up being a nightmare awake and asleep.

The only way to end the nightmare is to end the addiction. As long as the person you love is addicted, life will continue to be tormented and every day will be an emotional roller coaster. You must decide “that’s it”. You have to draw the proverbial line in the sand and decide that drugs and/or alcohol will not ruin your relationship or wind up killing the person you fell in love with long ago.

This decision, believe it or not, is one of the only things that will prevent the person you love from winding up either dead or in prison. Addiction is strong and most people don’t just walk away from it to restart a happy, enjoyable and productive life. They require help to do so. Help from family demanding they get clean and sober, help from drug rehab programs to rebuild their basic abilities to live again without the substances they abuse and ultimately help from themselves being will to face the intense cravings to use and push through until they reach the other side. It is a tough road for many but 1 for 1 each person who makes it will tell you it was worth every second.

Don’t give up on the person you love. Get that person they help they need NOW.