MarkTwain

Yip.....you're recovered as long as you don't drink. Then, after 42 years, some vodka, and you are not recovered any more.

sstone12345

I've asked myself this question so many times. I still don't know if I know the answer. But I guess I will consider myself "recovered". Although, if I don't keep up with what I learned at Rehab, I know I will be right back where I was and that was not a good place. I remind myself daily how bad off I was and that I never want to go back to that feeling.

Rehab truly saved my life. I'm very grateful for what they have taught me.

Lautca

Oh, gosh! Okay, my late mom was a functional drunk for about 25 years and I very much followed in her footsteps. My mom quit all alcohol and nicotine use cold turkey entirely on her own, and some years later I did the same with a brief bit of encouragement from a long-time lady friend along with what turned out to be the serendipitous and coincidental, perhaps even bizarre, unanticipated assistance that resulted from minor facial surgery. Regarding the circumstances surrounding how I nearly painlessly quit both alcohol and nicotine at the same time, some have even suggested it was a gift from Heaven. Maybe fifteen years after my mom completely stopped all alcohol use, she resumed occasionally having a glass of wine in the evening while watching television before going to bed. My mom and I worked together almost daily running a family farm and she lived next door, so it wasn't difficult for me to passively be aware of her alcohol use, and I never again saw her obviously intoxicated or drinking every evening. She stayed the occasional one-glass-at-a-time wine drinker and never again used nicotine to the end of her life about eight years later. As for myself, I don't care to tempt fate by resuming ingesting any alcohol, so the closest I ever get to what my mom did is a few times a year I will have a non-alcohol beer with some shredded chicken and avocado tacos, a combination that to me is something no gourmet chef can ever match in its exquisite flavor. I consider my mom to have BEEN just about recovered, and myself to BE just about recovered. But - - - what about RELAPSE? My mom COULD have turned back into a habitual, albeit functional, drunk, and so CAN I! It isn't likely that I will, and no, the taste and aroma of non-alcohol beer does not trigger any desire for me to drink (just eat shredded chicken and avocado tacos).
But last month in February I got an unexpected dose of one of the things from my long ago past that at one time had been highly, HIGHLY contributory to me becoming a professional drunk when I was in my teens to early twenties. Because at age 66 I am older and wiser, what happened in February was simply a highly irritating reminder of the nasty and cruel head-games far too many young people inflict on others. What happened was no longer a reason to sooth/anesthetize myself with alcohol because of lacking the social and coping skills to handle such self-esteem destroying psychological attacks. What happened came out of left field, so even after 19+ years of 100% sobriety along with considering myself to be totally immune to ever taking a drink again, I learned that things can still unexpectedly bite me in the butt that USED to be triggers and just may still have that potential under the right circumstances! So, I don't believe anyone can be 100% recovered, life has too many twists and turns to stand safely behind the concept of being fully recovered. However, what I am is extremely unlikely to ever again deliberately and knowingly ingest alcohol, and I'd lay some pretty stiff odds that I will never again ingest alcohol. Nicotine is another matter, though, that drug IS tempting to me while alcohol is not, so I carry the last pack of cigarettes I bought in my truck in case I ever want a smoke and I never feel deprived. I would imagine that my 19+ year-old cigarettes are a little raspy by now, though.
Lautca

If you want to check it out, my unusual experience attaining sobriety is kind of interesting, it is here at sober recovery. I hope the link works:
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...er-2016-a.html

PhoenixJ

Recovered- yes, physically after stopped drinking
Recovering- lifetime- from never drinking again