Notch8

Vote and discuss, this stems from a few other threads I've been following.

Aellyce

I said "other" because it depends:
-In early sobriety, I considered myself to be in recovery.
-After a few years, recovered.
-To most other people I say I am a non-drinker.

silentrun

That's kind of how it was for me too. For the first couple of years, recovery was hard work. Then it became the new normal. Now drinking isn't even a thing in my world. I don't think of myself as an alcoholic but I am well aware that if I ever put alcohol in my body again it will be the end of me.

Abraham

I kind of think of it this way. If you are still struggling to quit and its still a big issue then you are recovering. If you are very much over it and dont think about it often and struggling with a craving etc... is well in the past then one is a non drinker. I'm a non smoker. I quit 21 years ago and would not go back as far as I know. Same with drinking. To me recovered is to off the wall or medical sounding. I guess if you were about to die and were way bad off I could see that. I drank for almost 30 years and drank all day everyday at the end but when I worked I only drank a pint of rum a day and was quite functioning. So recovered is too strong of a word to me for me. Whatever you want to call it is all good to me. Thats just my take.

Abraham

hmm yea, a lot shorter way to say what I just said. I agree.

Dee74

I would choose recovering if it was an option, but not the way Abraham sees it (and thats ok!)

I'm recovering because it feel right to me to use the present tense - I am breathing,I am living I am growing - I am recovering.

There is a sense there that I'm capable of more growth (and I am - these last few weeks have shown me that) but there's no sense, as I see it, that this is a state which will lead back to relapse

D

Grungehead

As someone who has worked the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and continues to practice the principles of the program on a daily basis I consider myself recovered. That doesn't mean I am cured from alcoholism, only that when I practice the principles of the program in my daily life I am not acting/thinking like I did when I was consumed by the obsession for alcohol.

As the old saying goes, "I can recover from a gunshot wound but that does not make me bulletproof". Another example is the fact that was born with a congenital heart defect and have had 2 open heart surgeries (2004 and 2011) to "fix" the problem(s). I have recovered from both surgeries, but I still have the underlying disease and will have it for life. I am an alcoholic and will be for life as their is no cure. As long as the obsession to drink does not return I consider myself recovered, but I have to continue to treat my alcoholism daily in order to stay that way.

Sunnyday13

In recovery, at 10 weeks. Actively working on all kinds of healing. Doubt I would in the future say recovered, most likely not defining by name, maybe just saying I don’t drink.
When I quit many years ago for the first time, it seemed like it was all about calling myself an alcoholic. While true! I find the phrase “in recovery” gentler and less judgmental-sounding, and more descriptive of what I am doing.

SnazzyDresser

I've never liked the term recovery and I would never refer to myself as recovering. I don't even like the term alcoholic much and only use it when I visit AA meetings where I have no problem playing along. Their house, their rules etc. Obviously by most definitions I would easily be classified as a alcoholic, and I don't wanna run away from the word but I also don't want to wear it out, warmly embrace it, or bandy it about.

If pressed for where I really on this terminology thing, I would describe myself as a guy who was a drunk for several years until he finally wised up, got sober, and started taking care of himself.

least

I chose "non drinker" for the same reason as what silentrun said about not drinking becoming a normal way of life.

I don't think of drinking when I'm under stress. There are no more 'triggers' that 'make me' drink. I'm just a non drinker and happy that way.

Carlotta

I also chose non-drinker. I think for me it is something which evolved. First I was in recovery, then I considered myself recovered. These days I am a non-drinker.
Like Least and Silentrun I don't get triggered. I just don't drink that's all.

ZIP

Well, truthfully I'm an alcoholic. After having my last drink in 2018, I use the term non-drinker.
I no longer have cravings or desire to drink...thank God. But, I know in my heart if I ever again down that one first drink, I'll be right back in the booze abyss...because I'm an alcoholic.

Derringer

Recovered.

Just like a classic old piece of furniture, can look like new again and be of use again.

That's me. I think it acknowledges the work that was put in by myself and others to achieve same.

Derringer

Double 😳

plop

I said "recovered", although I could have said "non-drinker". I haven't got any urge to drink and I don't struggle with it, but then again, if I didn't need to recover from something, I wouldn't be here in the first place, would I? I'm not an alcoholic anymore, so I guess that makes me "recovered", but I'm also a "non-drinker", and I'm not sure if this nomenclature thing is that important.

doggonecarl

I have been granted a reprieve from my affliction.

Andante

I choose "in remission" because it reminds me that I can't control or cure my addiction. I can only keep it at bay as long as I stay sober, and I can only stay sober as I continue to practice good sober hygiene -- i.e., making sure I'm avoiding the kind of thinking and actions that would lead me to the first drink.

SnazzyDresser

I agree with this 1000%. I'm at 3 years now but back in the 1st year I often thought to myself that a huge advantage to never drinking again would be to never again have to worry about or quibble/argue over the finer points of recovery culture and its dogma, shibboleths, and taboos. Staying sober is what counts, first and foremost. No alcohol today, no alcohol forever. All the blessings flow from the essential nature of that. The labels attached matter little.

Notch8

I tend to agree with avoiding labels. Is it okay to tell people I simply don't drink? Do they really need the back story?

MyLittleHorsie

I never give a back story. I don't drink, I did at one time, but I don't anymore, just not my thing.
We have a lot of young kids we work with and I coach, at horse shows, there are always stables who have beers in their trailers or pop up tents. We never do, sometimes we camp over at a show, we have living quarters in our trailer, that's when it can get a bit more loose, shall we say. I and the chaperones for our team do not drink at shows, it is well known I will not have it near the kids. I am also conscious, those kids are watching. I want them to know, lots of adults don't drink and it is perfectly natural to enjoy a weekend away, without drinking.
Dh has beer at the barn, the fridge is in a closet in my office/tack room. The guys will go in my office, lock the door and have a couple, but we have group homes as clients, so it needs to be hidden away. My office in the barn is almost always locked, my personal saddles are in there as well as some of my tack, schooling kids ain't using that LOL.
I don't drink, end of story. It can be that simple.