A eureka moment ....
With a drinking history of 30 years behind me followed by eight years of prolonged and hopefully lasting sobriety I've always, in recovery drawn strength and comfort from a recording I have of 'Clancy' addressing the South Pacific Group. In which, in his own recovery he relates the time when his sponsor pointed out that,' If your problem is alcoholism, then your problem isn't alcohol,' and his, like mine dumbfounded reaction on hearing it!
Until, on questioning the content of this remark, his sponsor, as I then came to realise, that alcohol is but a symptom of the illness...
This for me was a real 'eureka!' moment, after which I've always been ready to follow Clancy's example and refer to my disease/illness as alcohol-ISM, the alcohol being but a symptom, the -ISM's being life in sobriety itself, which the rest of society encounters on a daily basis ...