Hi James,

I am with you entirely. It's not wise to announce myself as an alcoholic to a non recovery/12 step/sober person, as they will likely imagine something very different to what I mean. And they often will feel sorry for me that I can't drink, which I still hate as it so deeply misses the point of what has happened during my transition to being sober.

But in the context of a meeting, to identify as a big smelly alkie(!), it's quite lovely. I never would have imagined it would be so nice to be sober, and everyone in the room truly gets that - the contradiction of it all. To go from not being able to stay sober or even want to, to being sober for years, even decades at a time... They all get how hard it was to quit and how life affirming it is to stay quit, and that's so nice.

But as soon as I leave the meeting, I drop the label. Apart from in the context of this blog, of course...

Thanks for reading and commenting. : )

Chelsey