Paul, with 18.5 months of sobriety, shares how he did it. That's right, I'm breaking up with the word alcoholic and opting for a simpler less defining answer of I don't drink. I got the idea for this podcast after reading the following article and I hope you like the show notes. As you can probably tell, I've had some recent help with show notes since mine leave much to still be desired. COUNT ME OUT OF “RECOVERY NATION” - NEGATIVE SELF-IDENTITY IS THE CRUELEST STIGMA (Stanton Peele: July 7th, 2016)   The labels “alcoholic”, “addicts”, and “in recovery” dehumanizes people, both for the person     themselves and their children.               -Influence contributor, Meghan Ralston, wrote in her article (I'm Breaking Up With the Word              Addict),   Agree - “Even in a chaotic stage of drug use, we are not “other.” We are women, we are someone's daughter, we continue to laugh, we continue to like jazz and cheeseburgers and comfy pajamas. We cry, we get so lonely, we hate sitting in traffic. Addiction can be wretched, no question, but we do not ever stop being human beings, even during the times in our lives when we are dependent on drugs.”   Disagree - “For many people, myself included, the word “addict” is incredibly harmful and offensive. You do not have my permission to call me an addict. You can of course refer to yourself as an addict, if you wish.”[1]   Don't refer to yourself as an “addict.”               -It's depressing             -No one should highlight/define themselves by their worst trait or period in              their life.   These concepts arose in conversation between Dr. Peele and Talk Recovery Radio:   “Dr. Stanton Peele was today’s thought provoking live guest on Talk Recovery.… our show is meant to be a platform where all pathways to recovery are welcomed to be discussed… But today, that almost didn’t happen. There was an 'us and them' feel to the show… Why do people feel the word addict is stigmatizing?”[2]               -Peele explains that the host seemed to feel that he was part of a movement              that set people recovering apart from everyone else.                           -Culture seems to encourage this separation.                              -public policies                              -celebrities' confessionals                              -treatment circles                              -recovery high schools                              -etc.               -Show host ironically wonders why there's a stigma towards addicts while he himself labels               himself as one.   Peele refuses to label himself by marching with Recovery Nation, a group that lets themselves be lead     by their labels.                         -”Thinking of yourself as an alcoholic causes you to behave the way you think alcoholics                            behave.”        -To quote Peele and Ilse Thompson,   “You are not your addiction; you are a valuable human being whose qualities endure and exceed your addiction. … It’s impossible to expect a person to achieve wellness by focusing on his or her faults and mistakes. Perhaps this is why conventional recovery asserts that people must remain 'in recovery' forever and continue to identify themselves as addicts, no matter how long they are sober.”[3]     -Today people seem to expect labeling. Peele states,   “Imagine a child with a learning difficulty looking at you and saying, 'I am retarded,' or 'I am stupid.' We would cry and hug them and tell them that wasn’t true!”   -Peele goes on to pose the question of why it is that people always discourage each other from   identifying themselves by their problems or illnesses, except when it comes to addiction.   -While debating former head of treatment at Hazelden, Peele asked how he short-circuited his family   heritage.               -While the clinician had a cynically humorous answer, Peele gave his answer for the man to the               radio show hosts. The method to preventi