I met up with some girlfriends the other evening and it was one of those wonderful evenings that women do so well. We shared our stories. Admittedly, we had a few glasses of wine which may have loosened our inhibitions slightly but we knew each other well so were comfortable in talking openly and freely.

We hadn't met up for a while so we were all keen to catch up on what had been happening . One of our group had recently broken up with her husband. He had been the one to initiate the break denying someone else was involved, although she had her suspicions. Quite naturally, she was upset but was moving on with her life. As she was continuing to live in the marital home she had asked him to remove all his belongings from the house. She had also started to get rid of anything that had an emotional attachment to him with wedding and engagement rings being the starting point.

It's the same when you have lived with an alcoholic, in order to make a fresh start you have to let go of the past. Emotional attachments to things can prevent you from moving on with your life. Give jewellery to family or friends who don't share the same attachments as you, help others by donating some items to charity or simply throw them away. There will probaly still be some anger inside you so you may want to ceremoniously burn certain items and relish watching the flames consuming the item that is so painful for you. Let your bitterness burn with it. Bitterness is not part of the recovery. Letting go is all part of the healing process and when it's done, you will feel a whole lot better and be ready to move forward.

Accept what is, let go of what was, have faith in what will be.