DayTrader

I wasn't too hot on it myself. As I got a more current and correct understanding of what an alcoholic really is (and isn't) my resistance to it went down.

What really helped me with the whole "label" deal was getting to the exact nature of why I didn't like labels being applied to me - namely - because I applied them (labels) in quite destructive fashion to just about everyone else on the planet.

I had labels for blacks, Asians, Indians, blondes, red heads, the poor, the wealthy, ppl from trailer parks, ppl who drove expensive sports cars, loud type A personalities, quiet shy types, etc etc etc etc. Really, they were prejudices.......and pre-judgements. Lots of "old ideas" that I'd operated with for decades.

It wasn't the label so much as it was fear that I'd be labeled in the same manner I'd been doing it to everyone else. Just as someone being black, or a red head, or a woman, or whatever doesn't tell me much of anything about them as a person.......neither does me being an alcoholic tell all that much about me.

As I began to let go of my judgments of everyone else, it got easier and I became more comfortable being honest about my own truth. Not too tough to admit I have blue eyes.....shouldn't be any tougher to admit I'm also an alcoholic. Those are just truths about me.....but they don't define me. (when I was using outward truths about others to define them.......it was darn near impossible for me to accept any type of "label" for myself).

edit-- as I sit here and think about it, back in my early days of recovery I really didn't have much of a clue who the hell I was. I had some ideas but for each one of them I had a dozen pieces of evidence that disproved each conviction. Figuring out who the hell I am......and learning how to separate "who I am" from "what I do" made a huuuuge difference.