drunken shame
Member
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Florida US
Posts: 296
"I guess I dont know if Im an alcoholic or an alcohol abuser-or does that matter"
No, it doesn't matter. If your drinking is preventing from living the life you want, the life you deserve, it really doesn't matter how you call it. I am not big on labels but once I saw that I just couldn't stop at one drink I realized I had a problem.
I have a brother who is a gambling addict. He cannot own a car, not even a beat up one because he can't stop himself from gambling the insurance and gas money. My sister pops valiums like they are tic tac's and all her pictures and comments on facebook are about drinking. Some of her facebook friends have brought this to her attention and she gets very defensive. The other day we went to lunch together and she had two beers. Was anxious until the first one came and when my mother offered to finish the second one for her because my sister was driving us back, my sister wouldn't let her.
I have another sister who was married to an alcoholic for 25 years and was left so emotionally wounded by this that she is now mean spirited, highly envious of women with good solid marriages and suffers from panic attacks.
What I am trying to say is that addictive behavior is prevalent in my family. If labeling oneself alcoholic or addict opens the door to and facilitates recovery then more power to you. You will eventually find what works and doesn't work for you. The recovery philosphy of powerlessness may work for some, but not all. I've found that the most useful recovery approach for me is that which empowers me and draws on my strengths and not my weaknesses.
Read read read about alcoholism, addiction and recovery and draw your own conclusions. Then design a recovery plan and follow it faithfully. There is no recovery without a plan. Countless posts here prove that.
Best wishes on your journey.
Natalie
No, it doesn't matter. If your drinking is preventing from living the life you want, the life you deserve, it really doesn't matter how you call it. I am not big on labels but once I saw that I just couldn't stop at one drink I realized I had a problem.
I have a brother who is a gambling addict. He cannot own a car, not even a beat up one because he can't stop himself from gambling the insurance and gas money. My sister pops valiums like they are tic tac's and all her pictures and comments on facebook are about drinking. Some of her facebook friends have brought this to her attention and she gets very defensive. The other day we went to lunch together and she had two beers. Was anxious until the first one came and when my mother offered to finish the second one for her because my sister was driving us back, my sister wouldn't let her.
I have another sister who was married to an alcoholic for 25 years and was left so emotionally wounded by this that she is now mean spirited, highly envious of women with good solid marriages and suffers from panic attacks.
What I am trying to say is that addictive behavior is prevalent in my family. If labeling oneself alcoholic or addict opens the door to and facilitates recovery then more power to you. You will eventually find what works and doesn't work for you. The recovery philosphy of powerlessness may work for some, but not all. I've found that the most useful recovery approach for me is that which empowers me and draws on my strengths and not my weaknesses.
Read read read about alcoholism, addiction and recovery and draw your own conclusions. Then design a recovery plan and follow it faithfully. There is no recovery without a plan. Countless posts here prove that.
Best wishes on your journey.
Natalie
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