Originally Posted by
DragonStryk72
Actually, no, I think I'll pick it up here, and I'll use two examples from my own family. My little brother Michael works with a man from the Middle East originally who is always offering wine to brother, and this led to Michael getting slightly drunk on a near daily basis. He realized this, and stopped immediately, giving up all alcohol for a time, then went back to normal amounts of drinking. It was nothing huge to him, but he didn't like the cycle that was showing up. That is not an addict.
My dad, now, when he was drinking, he was drinking heavily pretty much every day without anyone offering him anything, and in some cases, directly advising against it. He was down to drinking the cheapest shit beer he could find, simply because he could get the most bang for his buck, when he goes, "Pat, you're drinkin' too god damn much." He passed out in the bar just after saying this. After he sobered up a little bit, he knew he had to make a change, but didn't want to give up alcohol cold turkey, of course. So he sees these people sipping wine, and goes, "You know, you always see people sipping wine, that's what I need to do. I won't drink as much or as fast, and the wine's not as bad as the beer."
From there, he nearly drowned himself in wine. When he did finally get help, he hit hard withdrawal symptoms (bladder problems, shakes, migraines, even some hallucinations) for a long time, and even once he was done with that, knowing everything drinking had cost him, he could feel it in him that he still... want isn't the right word... had to have a drink. he's been sober 3 decades now, and he can still feel that need within him at times, not to drink, but to get horribly drunk.
To go another route, my sister is a bartender in Brooklyn, and she drinks, as does my mom. Both have been drunk a number of times, some of them together, but they are always with people they know they can trust, and it is something they reserve for every so often, as opposed to anything more problematic.
"Moderation is a wonderful thing, if taken in moderation."
Growing up in recovery, I've seen a wide variety of addicts, and it's given me, I believe, a better illustration between what a regular drinker is, what a drunk is, and what an alcoholic is.