Originally Posted by Zencat

I too consider my alcoholism arrested, that is to say I have recovered from the active symptoms of alcoholism, of both body and mind. The idea of being recovered comes from my understanding of the medical definition of what it means to be longer symptomatic of alcoholism or as I say alcohol addiction. As far as I can tell there is no standard universal wholly agreed upon definition of being recovered. There is much opinion of what recovered means tho.

Having an addiction disorder means to me that my illness can resurface if my treatments to maintain my sobriety fail. Hence my illness is arrested and I'm not cured. If I was cured of my alcoholism, saying that I would never drink again would have some weight in my eyes. It would be like if I never drank in the first place.

I do recognize the power to 'shock the system' back in order. That being, sending the psyche a strong message with a strong exclamation that I will in fact never drink again. I think one can become what one believes. After all, strong positive beliefs have significant power over people, so why not I believe in myself. Oh conversely, strong negative beliefs can damage one as well, be those beliefs internal or external from others.

Then's there is the cold face of reality where I have seen people say some amazing cool things, only to see them also do some horribly disastrous stuff, me included.

What I strive to do is have some wellness in my life. Alcohol/drugs is not included in that plan. In the past decade I've had some successes and some failures. As a double vision alcoholic, I have two illness to treat that at times make life very challenging. Tho I do love a challenge because the rewards of overcoming a difficult challenge is a great shot to the ole self-worth thingy...just great stuff really. Resiliency...that's one thing I have, no matter what I shall overcome.