I feel like I don’t belong. Like I’m not enough of an alcoholic. Like I haven’t struggled enough with compulsions. Like it hasn’t affected my life enough. I’ve been affected by others’ alcohol abuse since I was a child, so I saw the warning signs when I was using it as an emotional crutch but before I was physically dependent. I got medication to help with stress, depression, and anxiety because I saw the behavior pattern forming and I didn’t want that. But because I haven’t gone through withdrawal or had huge impacts to my life, I feel like this might not be the place for me. I genuinely don’t know. I’m looking for genuine raw opinions. Am I out of place here?
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You’re not alone . I feel that way sometimes too. If this place is helping you stay sober then it is the place for you .
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Only you know the answer to this. It might NOT be the place for you. I don't mean to sound like a je®k, I'm just saying, you have to figure that out. If you want to fix your problem you need to know what the problem is. If your problem lies elsewhere then you need to fix that, there.
Thank you for the honesty. I’ve tried a couple times to maintain it on my own and haven’t been successful. I got to 10 months or so but in the past I haven’t been as true to the spirit of sobriety as I should’ve been. Partaking in this or that to augment my mood, but not drinking.
I never thought I had a problem. I always had a job, never got arrested, always paid my bills… those are all “yets” if you think you have a problem than any resource is for you.
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Who wrote the book saying you didn't suffer enough. Really. Get that cr@p out of your head. We all suffer differently. I guess that means drink yourself into oblivion. That's just crazy. Nip it in the bud now.
Sorry but that's the way I feel.
You don't have to feel like your situation leans far enough to decide you've had enough. This isn't a place to belong to. It's a place where you can find people to relate to. Your story is important to you. That's more than enough 
Your rock bottom doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s. And also rock bottom can just be you tired of feeling shitty everyday, it doesn’t have to be a DUI or something more drastic. Your journey is your journey.
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Thank you. My rock bottom was a few years ago. I went inpatient for mental health treatment. Unfortunately I didn’t make a correlation to addiction, or at least not enough of one to participate in the AA/NA groups. I still thought I was just bad at coping.
I have a similar story. I would say I was definitely a grey area drinker, but not an alcoholic. I quit before realizing that about myself (grateful that I was able to make that choice for myself), and feel a little out of place in recovery circles even though I consider myself in recovery on the Al Anon side of the 12 step programs. Either way, I think a community like this is for anyone who wants to connect with other sober people. Not necessarily just for addicts or people struggling to get or stay sober.
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Do you introduce yourself as an alcoholic at meetings (if you attend)? If you’d prefer not to answer that crude of a question, please feel free to ignore it. If you don’t, or if maybe others don’t..?, what other introductions do folks use?I feel… fake… calling myself an alcoholic. But I also wonder if I just haven’t fully accepted it.
I was a very functioning alcoholic. Never missed work, handled all my husband and fatherly duties. The problem was I drank until I was loaded all the time and felt I had to drink to excess every time. I was so functional that my wife never even knew I was a drunk. Of course I’d hide the cans and bottles in the recycle bin so she knew I was drinking but didn’t know how much. I was destroying my body and my mind. I started to forget my drinking experiences. Blackouts! That’s when I knew it was serious. I confessed to my wife how much I really drank and she was shocked because she had no idea. This hurt me more than anything because I had intentionally deceived her. I was very ashamed of this. It hurt me to see her so shocked at my lying for years. I broke her trust. It broke my heart.
So even if you’re highly functional like me and “in control”, it’s a problem. My guess is if you feel it’s a problem then it probably is.
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Not sure if this was in response to my comment (the threading capabilities on this app are not great 
), but no, Al Anon is the program for family and friends of alcoholics (aligned with the 12 steps/traditions of AA, but a separate program), so the introduction is not part of our program. We don’t really talk about our own drinking, so it’s not really something I have to address. But I wouldn’t feel comfortable calling myself an alcoholic. There are recovery programs/support groups that do not have that introduction element though.
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Dont believe the lies you hear in your head. An addict's brain is a scary place! Lots of trash up there that takes time to throw out. You are wonderfully and fearfully made. One of a kind and rare like a snowflake.
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Any place you get positive, healthy support is a good place. Is this the place you get answers?…maybe, maybe some, maybe not. Is it someplace else?…maybe. It’s all a process that’s different for each of us. It’s confusing. It’s not easy. So, yeah…positive, healthy support.
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