Whether you regard yourself as an alcoholic, a person with a drink problem or a Binge Drinker, you should not let society label what you are because basically, in general, societies perception may be incorrect!
Am I An Alcoholic?
In the clip below, I explain how being labelled an alcoholic in society is clearly misrepresented and perhaps needs re-adjusting.
See also my Booze Category Scale.
Transcript from video – My Thoughts Around – Am I An Alcoholic – Societies Label.
Hello, I simply have to share something with you, from a conversation I had earlier on this week, and it follows on from my category scale.
Am I An Alcoholic? He asked
So this guy recently asked me “so Dazza would you classify yourself as an alcoholic” I said “would you classify me as one” and he said “no, no you don’t look like one” and I said (laughingly) “well to answer your question no actually, but I used to binge drink. I used to do that, because I had some kind of on/off switch which didn’t work”,
Probably because it got rusted up from all the wet that was put into me but that’s a different story. You see, I don’t want to be known as an alcoholic because the perception of this term in society (pause) is rubbish!
I found that alcohol was that present in my life that it started to annoy me but more importantly it started to annoy my family and get in the way of my everyday life. So, you know, I don’t want to be designated as something that nobody understands and if it’s good enough for Sam Smith (here’s one), if it’s good enough for Sam Smith to be designated what he wants to be designated as, no offence Sam, like your music, then it’s good enough for me.
I mean seriously, in this day and age when anyone can be whoever they want to be and designated what they want to be, then I designate myself as a caring, dog loving, often embarrassing (sorry about that) human being, who, who used to binge drink.
Does it mean I abused alcohol – yeah! Could it have almost ruined my life? Yes. Does it mean that it took up too much of my head space? Yes, it did, hard drive was full, things could have even got worse! So, does it mean I’m an alcoholic? Then I say no, because that needs to be defined by someone who understands it. I understand it, but I don’t think the majority of society does.
Think about this, 14 units is six pints so if you think about who drinks more than this and whether you would classify it as abuse. Perhaps it’s not, but this is the healthy limit.
So Am I An Alcoholic – There is so much more to it than just this label!
Me, I don’t want the label alcoholic because society doesn’t know the meaning of the word and the perception is incorrect and that’s why I came up with my Booze Category Scale in the first place. Nobody needs to be a label you can classify yourself whatever you want.
Let me leave you with this thought; How can it be that as a society we praise alcohol and we big it up to be some kind of saviour for highs, for lows, for the BMD’s the births, marriages and deaths? Someone’s commiserating, someone’s got a new job, someone’s got an old job, someone’s got a shocking job, the sun’s out, oh no the sun’s gone in again.
You know, it’s the go to glamour puss, that’s what it is, it’s the go to glamour puss. Yet flip that on its head, and we see someone that is sucked in by all this BS, and then spat out due to whatever circumstances that they’ve had, and it’s gone too far. But all the encouragement that they’ve had in the first place and all the things about alcohol is good and we can’t have a good time without it…..
They’ve got a problem now, and it’s all the encouragement that’s probably at the root cause of it, and what do we do to that poor individual? We stigmatise the poor bugger, by calling them an alcoholic.
Now the message I’m giving, I suppose, is that you do not have to label yourself as anything! You are what you are. You might have had issues, you might not, you are what you are and let’s be done with it. Society’s got the problem, and I’m going to go on sort society out right now!
Final Thoughts
So when you ask yourself ‘Am I an Alcoholic?’ don’t let it be societies perception it needs to be your own and you have every right to label yourself as you wish. You are taking control and by reading my thoughts and journey you can start or progress further on your sobriety journey. Be sure to check my sobriety tips.
If you are still wondering if you are alcohol dependent then you may find this resource from DrinkAware useful.
