melaniebaker

I was doing research online to find out what it means to be in recovery and an explanation I found said being in recovery means you are sober or drug free and are also working through the issues that caused you to drink or use drugs. What if you don't have issues that caused you to drink or do drugs? What if the only reason you started drinking or using drugs is because you like the way it feels to be drunk or high? If you're drug and alcohol free, but don't have issues to work on can you ever be considered to be in recovery?

Dee74

If you prefer the feeling of being drunk or high over reality I think that's an issue.
If you need to escape your life there's something that needs to be addressed there.

Are you in recovery yourself, Melanie?

D

DriGuy

That was me. None of the issues in my life were significant enough to cause me to drink. My main problem was my addiction to alcohol, which was the biggest issue in my life (I had it backwards). My drinking was causing more issues in my life than my issues were causing me to drink.

Don't worry about it then. By being alcohol free, you are solving your problem with alcohol. You are still free to tweak those other issues in your life, because everyone has some issues.

Personally, I don't care what recovery is because it's a word with varying idiosyncratic definitions that serve mostly as a distraction. I solved my drinking problem, which was my major issue, and now I solve other problems the way other emotionally healthy adults do.

"What is Recovery" is a robust debate, but in the end, what you do with your drinking is more important, at least it was for me, and it may be that way for you too.

Aellyce

I have been through that thought process many times too, melaniebaker, and concluded (even before I quit drinking) that was my personal reality, that I drank simply because I liked the effect, and over time/repetitions became addicted to that chemical effect. I may have some predispositions, but nothing else caused the actual drinking problem but drinking itself, and the effects of long-term exposure to alcohol. It's resolved by not putting alcohol into my body. But this is very personal and many people will disagree, I suggest you listen to your own instincts and truth, especially if you have had some sober time and know what the sober experience is like for you. Many people struggle a lot with various other issues that surface or intensify in early "recovery", and it sometimes makes that period miserable, leading to relapses because people don't cope well with those states. In that case, I think it is very important to address them. But if you don't (I personally don't, the only challenging thing for me can be dealing with cravings for alcohol, which is simply the result of years of heavy drinking), don't complicate it without reason, just because others' experience can be more complicated. It's definitely not a one-size-fits-all, universal reality and process IMO.

As for the semantics, I think many people who think like you describe call themselves recovered once they have quit their problem substance/behavior of choice quite stably and confidently. Like any other problem resolved. I think that can be empowering to some, so if it helps you, use that word. Others prefer to view it as a more complex and longer process, that gives them more comfort, confidence, may soind more realistic.

My personal choice now is that I don't care much about the semantics and definitions and prefer to be just descriptive and say: I quit drinking and don't plan to ever drink again. Mt recovery from alcoholism is mostly dealing with drinking urges effectively, so I can maintain the sober state permanently. The rest is an ongoing self-discovery and improvement process, my life. I've always had it and will most likely go on as long as I'm alive, not because I was a drunk, but because I enjoy all kinds of discoveries and improvements, it enhances my possibilities, success and gives personal meaning to my life.

snitch

I would say that a person just quits alcohol with no issues isn't in recovery. They've just quit.

GrizzIan

I know I used to be a big believer of the idea that everyone who drinks heavily does it because of some underlying and unresolved issue. I'm not so sure now.

I say this because for me I managed to twist this idea in my head to justify my drinking. I could tell myself that the drinking wasn't really the problem, it was some other unresolved thing deeper down in myself and my history. If that was true then if I could solve that problem and then I would get to drink like 'sensible' people do.

It never worked though. I did make positive improvements to areas of my mental life, I did address unresolved personal issues. The drinking just got worse and worse.

I realise now that I drank because I loved to drink. From the very first time I tried alcohol, something just clicked in my brain and it just made sense. I needed to look directly at my drinking as a problem in itself.

GeoGo

I also thought the same way...drank because it felt good, not because there was some significant underlying issue with my life. I would read about others who went through tough times and drank to cope - I really couldn't relate. Eventually, though, drinking ended up not feeling so good anymore and just got me back to feeling OK, so quitting became the obvious course of action. Now that I've been sober for a while, I wonder if perhaps there were insecurity issues, like feeling socially awkward and introverted. What I find now in sobriety is that I'm much more confident, so don't really bother too much about "fitting in" and am just fine with being me.

GrizzIan

I definitely used drinking as a way to cope with things. I also used it as a way to celebrate things. Whatever the situation drinking seemed the appropriate response.

It really turned out to be one big justification for drinking. At the root, drinking was the problem.

IsaLastDisciple

I’d say recovery is when you made all your amends and rely on nothing but GOD to stay sober

Zencat

I say yea. I think of recovery as starting and maintaining healthy behaviors. Not to drug/drink is very healthy behavior.

blackblazer

Be always strong you can win every battel in your life

DanielBoucher

In recovery, you not only work on the issues that caused you to abuse substances, but also the issues that substance abuse causes.

Zencat

IMO "issues" have yet to be defined in this conversation. How about social influences that can cause issues? Celebrations, holidays, and parties. Maybe imbibe more the everybody else, an issue no? Watch the games, and happy times while drinking happily away. Another issue?

I think trying to see if I have an issue with drugs on a recovery site, that's an "issue".

Oglsby

To me there is abstinence but still wanting to drink (white-knuckling), abstinence as the beginning of recovery, and a necessary component, and then being in recovery, which is an active process that takes lots of work and self reflection, and usually most of us find that our original enjoyment of being intoxicated is indicative of at least some unaddressed issues. My mother, who was not an alcoholic, used to always say to me, 'The most terrifying thing to me would be to be out of control and not myself". She truly didn't understand why anyone would not want to be 100% sober.

There are great debates on "always in recovery" versus "recovered'. I personally believe someone can be recovered but that is probably rare. Most of us have to remain vigilant, years after we actually stop drinking, especially if we ever have the notion that if we go long enough we can moderate. Alcoholics can't moderate, though most try at some point, and non-alcoholics don't have to try, nor do I think they have to think about it.

I agree with Zen, that if you are on a site and thinking it could be a problem, maybe there is something there......my mom would have never looked up this site, and neither would I have unless it had to do with research/etc and I were not an alcoholic. Just my two cents, though. You'll never get a simple answer to your question.

I once heard someone say a "problem drinker" is a person who, once they stop drinking, the problem goes away, whereas an alcoholic, once they stop drinking the problems can feel as though they are just beginning (because they are now having to face things in life that they formerly coped with with alcohol.