Alcoholics often suffer greatly before they get through a recovery program and move on with their life. It should be no surprise that their families, friends, and even their partner may suffer just as much. Attempting to help someone with an addiction before they are ready to break the habit can be frustrating and heart-breaking. Some partners may eventually leave to save their own lives. Others may choose to remain, but the love in the relationship may appear to be gone. Recapturing love with a partner can be difficult, but it can be done.
Many relationships between partners may not have started out with the addicted person having any problem. Life could have tossed a situation into their existence that put them over the edge. Once they began drinking, they never quite found their way back to normal life. A partner living through this with them may stick by them no matter what. That does not necessarily mean they feel anything other than duty.
Staying in a relationship with an addicted person can be about enabling them, but it can also be about fulfilling marital vows. Some people choose to remain because the love is still there, but others remain because they feel they have nowhere else to go. Rebuilding the relationship after the person has been able to get their addiction under control is a challenge they must face as a couple. Starting out can be a time when they begin by remembering what attracted them to each other in the first place. They must then build a bridge past the bad times to walk into the future together.
Some couples will find their love is still there. It will be dulled by the ashes of what has gone before, but sweeping out those ashes can ignite the flames of passion once more. This could help them rekindle their relationship in a positive way, and it might be what takes them into the next chapter of their lives.
