He’s getting better but it might not be enough for me
My partner of 8 years was clean for 5 years of our relationship and relapsed ~6 months ago. I found out about the relapse ~3 months ago (it was a 3mo long relapse). We had a wedding planned but I cancelled it 1-2 months ago.
He’s been doing great as far as recovery goes. He’s going to therapy, we do couples therapy, he attends SAA and Coda. I do see a change in him, he seems happier. He’s been honest about urges, he hasn’t been gaslighting me or minimizing anything. He’s been reaching out for support in his meetings or to friends that are understanding of his situation.
But I still feel so invisible in all of this. The couples therapy is challenging because he’s so consumed by guilt and fear as I describe my feelings during our sessions. He’s not running away from it, but he doesn’t know what to say or how to respond. He doesn’t practice what we’re working on outside of couples therapy. He thinks things are going great between us when I’m feeling like I’m on the verge of leaving. I make my feelings clear but then it’s like he forgets about it 2 days later. His time spent reflecting and whatever is mostly spent on understanding himself which makes sense but there’s just not much of his focus on the relationship at all.
I don’t know if this is just early recovery, I remember feeling this way the first time around, but I’m exhausted with feeling invisible.