BillyPilgrim

They put labels on clothes. Some are designer, people pay more. Alcholic isnt designer, people avoid it
I spent so much time avoiding the fact that I cant control drink that I wasted time in getting better.
I have confronted that issue now, I dont wear a t-shirt saying "Alky", however, it is a part of my make up. I dont shout "watch out alky coming" when in a drink situation , but if people insist I have a drink , I say no politely, if they insist hard, I say I cant, I have a problem.
Its not the label, it is the person. In my experience, short though it is, those people who have been honest with themselves and accepted the label, are better people, and people I like
I see more honesty and companionship in the rooms (first time I have ever used that phrase) than anywhere I have experienced.
It involves getting over a lot of things, and the first and most important lesson I have learnt in the rooms is not to judge. It makes you a better person

Terminally Unique

If someone asks me if I want a drink, I tell them I don't drink, and that I have no problem whatsoever with not drinking. If they are actually stupid enough to ask me why, I tell them that it is flat out, dead wrong (read: immoral) for me to drink. All habitual drinkers recoil from moral judgement as if from a hot flame. Terrified that if they press further, I might actually suggest that it is wrong for them to drink, they not only drop the subject, but they never, ever, ask twice.

Rest assured that I am more 'honest' than most. I have come to see the difference between right and wrong as it pertains to my own drinking, which is more than can be said for many who claim 'I'm an alcoholic' as a last name. If you doubt this, try answering the following questions:

1. Is it right or wrong for you to drink, in the moral sense?
   
   
2. If it isn't wrong for you to drink, why did you decide to quit?
   
   
3. If it is wrong for you to drink, are you ever going to drink again in this lifetime, or are you not?

BillyPilgrim

Physically it is wrong for me , you did not ask that. Morally yes because I become a bad person on too much drink. I know I cannot control so it is immoral for me to try

Terminally Unique

You didn't answer question #3.

BillyPilgrim

That is a question similar to what are the lottery numbers tonight

flutter

Last night my husband and I were out to dinner. I was telling him about a friend of mine that joined me and my girls for a bit at a restaurant after work. I told him, "She's an alcoholic too." And he said "Was she getting drunk?". "No, she doesn't drink anymore, went to rehab about 2 years ago". The look of confusion on his face was telling.. He said "So she WAS an alcoholic?". And I just sat there and decided that I don't even know how I feel about continuing to refer to myself as an alcoholic at this point, and just babbled a general "well sometimes people are always referred to as alcoholics even after they stop drinking", the look of confusion never left his face.

In my life and recovery, I used to drink too much, now I don't. That's it. The semantics and the rest are just fluff to me, doesn't make a difference in the way I live my life now, as a non-drinker.

Terminally Unique

Flutter, your husband is not entirely off base. When is the last time you heard anyone refer to ex-smokers as smoke-a-holics or nicotine-a-holics?

They don't even call them 'addicts', which is what they were.

RobbyRobot

I hear you, 1undone. I have been in my own ways where you are now. Be of a hopeful heart and an inquiring mind as you journey. You will not be disappointed in your recovery no matter where your path of abstinence opens and beckons you follow. Be true to thyself.

I'm a recovered alcoholic drug addict. Alcoholic as defined by AA Big Book. My alcoholic illness is presently arrested and in remission. My alcoholic thinking mind is now alseep and null. Now changed out for an active sober thinking mind. My drinking problem has been removed. I am sober. I live a spiritual life.

When I drank, my alcoholic illness manifested as a physical allergy, a mental obsession, a spiritual malady. My illness is absolutely chronic. Abstinence is the only practical solution to my drinking of alcohol, and without that solution I would simply go about the business of drinking myself to death sooner or later, and one way or the other. Insanity and immorality would be my constant companions as I kept picking up that next drink. Alcoholism the illness is beyond my power of control and I was condemed to be its eternal servant in every sense of the word as I drank that alcoholic drink.

I now am free and in control of me and no longer a servant to my alcoholism. My past powerlessness with alcohol is a past experience and I do not in any way suffer from powerlessness today. I do not drink any more and therefor I have no alcoholic requirement for having any present awareness of powerlessness related to alcohol and alcoholism. My freedom enjoyed is permanent and irrevocable. I will answer to many names. Ex-alcoholic. Ex-drunk. Former drunk. Past alcoholic. Recovered addict. Sober drunk. They all appy in one way or the other. I prefer recovered alcoholic drug addict.

Since my alcoholism is adequately defined by AA, it goes without saying my sober solution for that alcoholism is the AA program of recovery. AA recovery is my foundation bedrock. Having said that, it is important for me to also state that a bedrock solution is a basic requisite necessity to keep my alcoholism in remission and arrested. For lack of better words, in summation, I have since a long, strange time ago been rocketed in to another dimension of existence when I look with my mind's eye into the rearview mirror of my alcoholic life. I am more then just a member of AA. I am unplugged and have been for many years now. I enjoy new challenges for personal growth and to continue my journey with an open mind and heart. I am humbly grateful and I am FOREVER responsible to my sober heritage. I would no more deny my beginings then a leopard would change its spots. I am at peace with my own understandings.

BillyPilgrim

By the same token, smokers are not referred to as smokeaholics.

flutter

Totally agree!!

FlyerFan

Welcome to the community, keep fighting back! Your initial post made me smile because I started out that way, I am 2 months sober and just starting the steps so your post gives me hope.

davidf938

Years ago, I actually took alcohol to a meeting and consumed it there. Relapse can happen anywhere, anytime.