In Reply to: Berg's alcoholism posted by Perry on October 31, 2005 at 17:47:07:
You're right about Berg's "I Was An Alcoholic" denial confession. And of course it didn't do him much good, the record shows he never had any lasting abstinence and was on and off the wagon time and again until only about 2 years before he died. It seems by that time old age and cortizone and other meds made it so that he replacement chemicals.
In answer to your questions I only recently started thinking of myself as a 'recovered' alcoholic, up til then I thought of myself as a 'recovering' alcoholic. But the AA program is about progress, about personality change, and spiritual principles. It's simply that I've come to that kind of a place in my recovery. But that doesn't mean I don't need the AA program anymore. I still do if I want to keep my recovery. Recovered doesn't mean I can start drinking normally. I'll never be able to drink normally, that's my genetic makeup. That's why the term 'former' alcoholic doesn't cut it either. You're right about the present tense definition, and 'recovered' is just an adjective in the context of a present tense sentence.
For an alcoholic the hard part isn't stopping to drink, the most difficult is to stay stopped. That's why we go to meetings and learn to work the 12 Steps. So I guess you could say my first 2 to 3 years in the AA program I was learning how to stay stopped, I was 'recovering', but now I've learned and really know what it takes to stay stopped (recovered), which I'm doing it daily, and which is a way of life for me now.
I don't mind your questions. I'm only able to speak for myself, other AA members will have their own stories.