Standing my ground and shit
One very dysfunctional interpersonal pattern of mine for the longest time of my life: being overly compliant, for the sake of keeping the peace. A deeply ingrained conditioning of mine is that I am “hysteric”, “difficult” or of a “prickly character” when I am voicing my opinion, representing personal interests or simply setting boundaries with third parties. Its been quite a ride with dissolving this false lesson and letting people not walk over whats important to me for the sake of their sense of well-being. Thanks to practicing magick on a regular basis I’ve developed a more healthier understanding about the difference in between being simply diplomatic and being a door mat that caters to everyone but me.
So, yesterday I wasn’t having any of the diplomatic part but I wasn’t resorting to “simply smile it away” either. As I am reaching the four month mark of sobriety my partner found that its a good idea to put a bunch of red wine into our dinner. He knows how much I’ve struggled with alcohol and how much I’ve invested into not relapsing; I haven’t touched a single drink the last couple of months, I am okay with people drinking around me and I am even handling alcohol as offering gifts on a regular basis without feeling any kind of temptation around it. I am proud about my development in that regard and I am trying my best to reshape body and mind after the most acute detox phase (which I handled completely by myself, don’t attempt that kind of stuff at home folks). I am confident that I will not guide myself back into this cycle again. The only thing that I expect: not being guided into a relapse by a trusted third party, not being able to have a choice about it in the first place.
That kind of trust has been damaged yesterday; it wasn’t so much about the “putting alcohol into food” part that got to me. It was about his reasoning. “Its only a small amount.” “It won’t be that bad for you.” “I cooked it even longer than I should have.” He wanted to argue with me over him wanting to be right vs. my physical and mental integrity. He was willing to send me into a very possible relapse (4%- 84% of remaining alcohol inside of the food is kind of a lottery here for the body of a former addict and one very vital part of recovery is not playing this game in the first place) only for the sake of him being in the right. And possibly defending his online source about this information, I don’t know.
In this moment, while staring down at my dinner - that simply reeked of red wine- I felt so anxious and unsafe and vulnerable. I was thinking about how to defuse this situation while trying to believe into his conviction vs. the very strong signals that my body was trying to send to me. And then I got suddenly very angry. I wasn’t angry about the alcohol. I was angry about how sulky and defiant he was about it; how he wouldn’t simply express that he wasn’t considering this situation. No, he had to be right, even if it would erase almost four months of hard work, sending my body and mind back into god knows what kind of downward spiral.
I had to think back about a dream that I had in the same night that I pacted with Leraje about this alcohol situation: me sitting in front of his altar, sobbing over an empty glass of red wine. I decided that I would not act out on this vision.
While my SO was still defending why this food is safe for me to consume I snapped and slammed my hand onto the table, telling him that this is enough. I told him that I will not have any of this any longer and that I will not choose his peace of mind over my physical and mental health. For the first time in over almost ten years there was no talking back to me; only a forced out “Sorry” and endeavours to quickly mask the situation with other stuff. I haven’t felt any kind of authentic compassion or consideration for me, though. It was an automatic kind of thing.
I think that yesterday was a turning point in that regard. Really standing up for myself has been something I always had my little problems with, in that relationship. It was always me who attempted the mending and reconciliation and meeting in the middle stuff. I won’t do that anymore. I am not sure how it will influence our relationship for the future; I know that I am not willing to parley with him over my own sense of safety any longer though. I find it ironic that this realization hits one day before my anniversary of magickal practice.