There is a difference between not caring and having a healthy detachment and boundaries with someone suffering from addiction. We cannot stand in the way of the life choices people make, we can only hope that they reach bottom before they die and turn it around. But that’s up to them. It feels contradictory, but the most caring thing to do is acknowledge our own powerlessness to change someone else and live in the reality they cannot be rescued and can only, in the end, help themselves.

Good for you for really transforming your life from such a deeply challenging adolescence into a healthy, loving, adulthood. And for allowing your son to find his own way. You are a great father and a great example to him.