I was pretty young (around 10 y/o) when my cousin's family were struggling with his meth addiction. I don't remember too much, but I remember that they were supportive and non-judgmental without encouraging his addiction. I think that helped because my cousin is now in his early forties and seems to be pretty comfortable living a life without meth. One thing I remember my uncle reminding him was to turn a relapse into a prolapse, which means learning from the relapse, like taking note of what caused the relapse and avoiding those triggers or handling them better. I guess the family really took all the professional advice to heart which made my cousin felt like he wasn't alone in his struggle. I just thought I'd share because it's a pretty inspiring story. Took me a while before sharing this because I had to ask permission from him before sharing the story (told him it was going to be anonymous anyway, but of course I didn't feel comfortable sharing such a personal story of his without asking).
Thanks for sharing that story, and I appreciate that you even asked permission to post it because it really shows consideration. If more family members were like you and your family then maybe a lot more people would be cured, but unfortunately most others just don't know how to handle it and would rather start off on being judgmental and defensive. Your story should serve as a good way to remind others on how better to cope, so thanks again.
I love the advice about turning the relapse into prolapse - about using a relapse to figure out what factors caused it and then avoiding those factors in the future.
I like that line about learning from a relapse. Sometimes you just beat yourself down so much that you forget to take away valuable lessons from every situation. People who use drugs have difficulties dealing with issues in the first place and sometimes need to be reminded to look at the positive from the experience.
That is really encouraging. I'm glad he was able to recover from such a difficult, addictive drug. Hopefully his own experience will benefit many people who are trapped in this ugly and destructive drug.
Thank you for sharing.The story you shared is very inspirational.It is always refreshing to hear about someone doing well after recovering from addiction.I hope your family member continues on the right path in life.Its seems your cousin has a great family who helped during a difficult time.
More than anything, recovery speeds best when there's support from family and friends to hang on to. As long as the recovering individuals feels he/she isn't alone in this battle, the chances of completely eliminating drugs from his/her life are higher than individuals who had to go through the ordeal alone. I hope the best for your cousin. He's very fortunate to have family members like you.
Thank you all for your positive feed backs. I told my cousin about the nice words and he was glad to hear it. He's doing great. And he confirmed that it was his family's non-judgmental but firm attitude that had the biggest impact on him. I guess it shows how important support is in times like these.
Thanks for sharing. It's always great to hear about a positive experience. Having a good attitude is important for all involved parties. It makes the process easier and more welcoming.