Can anyone get hold of AET?

[Aet290204]

Do you have close family and friends to lean on if needed AET?

Family - no.
Friends - yeh some of my closest friends know I struggle but I never want to be a burden.
Work - I’ve got a fairly supportive manager. Not that I’d want them to know everything that’s gone on!!!

 

[DanBoro4499]

Friends - yeh some of my closest friends know I struggle but I never want to be a burden.

You wouldn't be a burden to them if they really were your friends mate, i'm sure they'll be there for you however you need them.

 

[spanishman]

Great news that you are getting some help through therapy. Hope you stick with it and it helps you.

 

[joeychicago]

Friends - yeh some of my closest friends know I struggle but I never want to be a burden.

One of the absolute worst things that this terrible illness does to people is to make them feel like they are a burden. I know it's almost impossible to hear/accept when you feel like you do, but you are NOT a burden, especially to close friends.

So glad to read you've got yourself to a session. As somebody else said, it's a huge step, and it shows that the fight is still there within you.

You've got this mate

 

[Aet290204]

One of the absolute worst things that this terrible illness does to people is to make them feel like they are a burden. I know it's almost impossible to hear/accept when you feel like you do, but you are NOT a burden, especially to close friends.

This. 100%

 

[sadgit]

This. 100%

my friends had zero idea how I felt for decades. Well the few I have that is. I felt the same way, I didn't want to burden them. I was the party boy, hiding behind the drink and drugs. This is why I will keep harping on about Andy's man club, no judgement, no feelings of burden and even if people don't want this route.. just fúck1ng talk to your mates and family!! You might be shocked to find they actually care and want to help! Or as I have found with some of my staff, they are struggling and have never dared speak out. B0llocks to that, talk talk talk talk and talk some more!! I wished I did 30 odd years ago.. I love meeting people in their early 20s at AMC who are wanting to do something about it now, not when they are 50 like me. Just talk. I met an amazing young woman recently (early 20s) who had struggled and has now been sober for 2 years. We both knew the second we met, we both had the same demons. Was strange to start talking so openly with a person I met just then.. The old me would have never even been in that place with other people to enable that conversation.

I start another course of therapy in the next week or so and when I do crumble like I did recently , I have the tools in my head to bounce back and bounce back harder and faster... Life is good, no matter your situation. Just go outside, go walk, smell the air, look at the clouds, find a park to just sit and watch wildlife and people go by... I forgot how to enjoy the tiny things in life. I am getting that back, slowly.