Originally Posted by
August252015 
Yes, respectfully, this is a sticky wicket that I have a big problem with people supporting here (as in, using while being sober and sharing) for so many reasons.
It's up to you to decide what sobriety means to you.
I indeed relate to the whole addict mind thinking....I'm still engaged in "a sugar thing" here at 3+ yr sober. It doesn't affect my life but it does affect my waistline and connected to my activity level I'm making habit changes now (er, again).
I have about 3 drinks on hand at any given time- right now, actually, just two with one waiting in the fridge. My ubiquitous sparkling water with lime, a diet coke, and a diet lemonade (that one takes me thru the day) in the fridge. Obsessive and anxiety provoking when I'm without? has been, tho recently I've actually been choosing to be out and about with just one drink. It really doesn't bother me to have quirky "addictions."
I do take a benzo for anxiety tho - and it's something I'm re-assessing right now as I believe intent is the key in using anything substance-wise.
As far as NA bevs- most beers still have some alcohol so there's that. There's also the habit-connection. People differ for all kinds of reasons on this one. This newish "Fre" wine? I can't imagine a good reason (as in, one that supports my MENTAL as well as physical sobriety) to put fake chardonnay in a wine glass (or any vessel!) and have it with dinner. I also don't cook with wine/liquor, and only around yr 2.5 (so, not quite a yr ago) did I become ok if a restaurant dish arrived with an unexpected ingredient- I do still stop eating it, and once I realized at 7 mo that was a boundary for me, I still know what to order/not most of the time so I don't ingest alcohol. I also only order a zero proof drink at one of the restaurants in the company I work for, and do that rarely- our owner is sober and I'm a leader of our recovery group so I am 100% sure there's not even bitters containing alcohol in the mocktails.
Addiction's a slippery slope.
I agree, I just think that Sober Recovery needs to be a safe place to land. By normalizing any use of a substance, it means the person coming here with that specific addiction and struggle (because there are scores of people with all sorts of addictions filtering through here) gets triggered.
We all know what it’s like to get triggered. It happens at work, when people talk about drinking. It happened at band practice last night, when I was terrified singing for the first time and someone handed me a cold one and I had to remind everyone I don’t drink, it happens every time we go to dinner, every time we attend a party, or vacation, or a holiday gathering....its simply everywhere.
If I come to SR, I get people lifting up sobriety and consistently communicating what a bad idea it is to drink. It’s a breath of fresh air in a world saturated with alcohol.
I’d like to think now that there are marijuana messages and feel good posters about it and so many people on the weed bandwagon, that the person who knows marijuana is interfering with quality of life and just wants to come here to have their quit supported, can do that.
I think if we keep teaching abstinence consistently and keep showing people we can have a good life without getting high or drunk, we will all benefit.
Like I said, while reading this thread, I got way too excited thinking I might drink n/a’s again. My AV knows what N/A’s will lead to, which is why it starts jumping up and down when someone mentions they can drink N/A’s without incident. I’m not saying no one should talk about n/a beer, I’m saying that’s just how easy it is to get triggered, and a person with less sobriety might just make the wrong choice.