Am I an Alcoholic?

You can call yourself whatever you like, “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet“.

You might find, in the long run, that none of that matters very much at all.

The term alcoholic, as frightening as it may appear, is just a way of expressing a level of addiction to alcohol that leaves little room for doubt about the wisdom of sobriety. It certainly shuts people up when they trivialise your will and determination to get and stay sober. Saying “I’m an alcoholic” to someone who is irritating the hell out of you with their silly pestering, well … it has a way of silencing them. Of course, it makes them feel uncomfortable too, and so it might, they’re content to make you feel uncomfortable!  Learn to live with discomfort, your own and that of others.

Oh, take no notice of me, my age is catching up with me and I’m prepared to say the things that shock others into silence.  Actually, to be honest, I always have had that tendency, only now I don’t need a couple of bottles of wine to pluck up the courage to disgorge my random proselytising. (I’m watching Downton Abbey again, from the beginning, and it appears I have much in common with the Dowager Countess.)

Am I an alcoholic?

I am a woman = the body I inhabit is of the female gender

I am a vegetarian = I prefer not to kill any sentient creature in order to eat when there is sufficient sustenance available from the rich diversity of plant life our Earth provides

I am a wife = I am fortunate to have found an Anam Chara who chooses to share this journey alongside me. May all sentient beings be so blessed

I am a sister = I have benefitted from the most profound teachings of this life through growing up alongside five siblings all imbued with their own extraordinary senses.  We were poor, but only in the material sense of the word.

I am a Soberista = with the support and assistance of a whole community of like-minded and similarly sick and tired people I have summoned the courage and determination to face the world head-on in complete sobriety = ‘I’ am a warrior, a legend, sober!

I may lay claim to be any number of things, personalities, roles. I can call myself left wing in the political sense yet appear to exhibit right wing tendencies in some areas. I may say that I’m Buddhist yet this means different things to different people.

As my youngest granddaughter has been heard to say: “Hi, I’m me!”.

Am I an alcoholic?  You tell me if it pleases you to do so, although frankly, my dear, call me anything you choose – a rose by any other name …

Namaste

Nana Treen / Yangchen