onlythetruth

That has certainly been my experience. The way I see it, I had positive and negative traits when I started drinking, but over time the drinking distorted the positive and exaggerated the negative. When I quit drinking, I had to bring this back into balance and if possible reverse the trend a bit.

For example, I am extremely stubborn, in the sense that I DO NOT give up until all avenues are exhausted. This can be a horrific trait if used negatively, such as by refusing to give in when a cause is lost (as in my attempts to drink successfully), but it can also be incredibly helpful if it is turned toward the forces of good. Used positively, that trait is immensely positive in my career and even in my personal life. You should see how good I am at planning a trip! I will research everything to the tiniest detail and I will not stop until I am satisfied with the trip and the price. My family loves this (as long as I don't take it too far and start telling them that we MUST be at the Eiffel Tower at precisely 2:03 pm).

The same principle can be applied to pretty much every trait, including the "negative" ones that some recovery programs want to label as universally "bad": anger can be turned into the motivation to right wrongs (can you imagine where we'd be without it?--if instead of fighting WWII we'd said "no, leave that Hitler guy alone, it's bad to be angry at others..."); perfectionism can be turned down a notch, and result in excellence; pride can be turned toward appropriate self-esteem; and so on.

The point is that moving past an addiction doesn't mean we have to rid ourselves of who we are: we simply reframe ourselves.

OTT