How To Deal With An Alcoholic

‘Metallica’, one of the greatest and most influential hard rock/heavy metal acts the world has ever seen; almost lost their lucrative careers to the killer that is ‘alcohol’. The band at one point of time was so dependent on alcohol that fans dubbed the band’s name to ‘Alcoholica’. Luckily for the members of metallica, they managed to see the light and with their breaths still intact escaped from the very dungeons of alcohol induced misery. Yes, alcohol when not consumed in moderation can turn even the best of us into raging and forever craving dipsomaniacs. It’s funny how alcohol works its way into your life. It first begins with a drink, then two, then a bottle and before you know it drinking from being a lifestyle need becomes as good as your life. It’s like a person’s very life revolves around alcohol and the prospects of consuming it. If you belong to the group of individuals who need to put up with the misfortune of dealing with an alcoholic, help on how to do so can be found in the section below. Read on.

Dealing With An Alcoholic 

Talk It Out
When you are dealing with the burden of an alcoholic friend, relative or partner, it may seem like the world is on your shoulders. However, it is for you, the sober one, to take courage and confront your alcoholic friend, relative or partner about his or her habit. When doing so, first ensure that the respective person is not drunk. It will not make sense to bring up the issue of an addiction to alcohol when the respective person is drunk. Approach him when he or she is sober. Talk about it, tell him or her that alcohol is a killer and apart from affecting the health, can also take a toll on the person’s career. It’s like a double edged sword. When approaching the person, make it a point to be gentle, but still a little firm, and never ever beat around the bush!

Stop Encouraging
Post talking to an alcoholic about his or her annoying habit, if you have in the past been guilty of encouraging his or her habit, stop fueling the same. For example, if you have been covering for him or her at work by making excuse calls for him or her, stop doing so. You may also want to very passively cut out the flow of money to his or her alcoholic fund. This becomes especially easy when you call the financial shots in the relationship. All in all, just remember to never go out of your way to do anything at all to make the respective person falsely believe that his or her addiction to alcohol is sitting down well with you.

Determination
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. If an alcoholic needs to exercise determination to stay away from his habit, it doesn’t mean that you as a sober individual don’t need determination. Just as important as it is for the alcoholic to be determined to give up his or her habit, it is for you to be determined that he or she does. Never backing down is really your best option here.

Patience Is The Key
Lastly, when dealing with an alcoholic, patience is what you need. Without this, you can never really succeed from keeping him or her away from his or her poison. Remember, alcoholism is as good as a lifestyle and making the journey out of it is not going to be an easy one. Thus, you will have to exercise patience like you never have before to ensure that your friend, relative or partner safely escapes from the heinous jaws of alcohol. This may not be easy for you, especially when dealing with flaring tempers and tantrums; however, to save a loved one from his or her poison, you have no choice but to be patient.