Is alcohol recovery a spectrum?

I want to ask this to the folks who have been sober for a couple of years or more. I follow this person online who has been sober for 4 years and they basically said that they would like to go back into drinking occasionally again and I have to say I was taken aback. This person was a role model for me and inspired me to stop drinking too. Maybe I don't know a lot about recovering from alcoholism, but I just assumed that you shouldn't go back to drinking ever. But then I started thinking maybe it's a spectrum and maybe some people don't have to quit forever, I don't know. I know at least for me it's very important to never go back to it. I want to be free of it. I no longer want to see it as a "fun thing you can do with friends." I know you can have fun without it. I've experienced it many times.

Once an alcoholic always an alcoholic. If we pick up the first drink, there will always be the risk of trouble. It's not worth losing our peace of mind. Who needs to start that mental obsession? Who needs to try to control something that has already been proven to be out of control. Did the person you follow say he would LIKE to go back to drinking, or that he DID go back? Sometimes my alcoholic voice tells me it would be fun to drink. That is the eternal lie my alcoholic mind can tell me at anytime. That's why I keep going to meetings, using this SoberTool app, etc. I quickly follow that craving through to its bitter end. Thank you for sharing.

IT IS NOT A SPECTRUM. One is too many and a thousand is NEVER enough.

That’s the devil talking lol “spectrum” - don’t fall for it.

If I have one beer I’ll be homeless within two weeks. Anyway that’s my 2 pennys

The difference between an alcoholic and non alcoholic is what happens on the occasion, I didn't touch a drop for 5 years and the same thing happened just like it happened everytime I drink I cannot control the amount .
It's this delusional way of thinking that enters the mind of nearly every single alcoholic, I can control this time . The occasions get closer together and within a short time we end up worse than before . If a person can go back to drinking and control it chances are very high that they weren't an alcoholic to begin with.
You either are alcoholic or not ,there is no in between.
Don't use someone elses delusional thinking as an excuse to research the first drink.
Role models also show us what NOT to do.

There is no such thing as "drinking occasionally." Not for an alcoholic. "Occasionally" will become all the time. Always. Because I'm an alcoholic.

There's no such thing as just having 1 or 2 or 3 drinks. Not for an alcoholic. "Just a few" will become the whole bottle of vodka. Always. Because I'm an alcoholic.

I'm 5 years sober. I relapsed time and time and time again for years until I finally accepted the truth.

The truth is that I don't really want to drink occasionally, I want to drink all the time. I don't really want just a few, I want to get blackout drunk.

But because I have an alcoholic brain, I will LIE to myself. My brain will tell me, maybe I can drink only occasionally. My brain will tell me, maybe I can have just a few.

You see, I am a daily blackout drinker. That's what being an alcoholic means for me. There is no "occasionally." There is no just a few. One drink. Just one drink, and I will be powerless to stop myself from drinking more and more until I'm completely obliterated.

But the real horror is not that 1 drink turns to many. The real horror, the most frightening reality I had to accept, is that 1 drink turns to many... day after day after day until daily alcoholic drinking becomes weeks, months, years... I might never be able to get sober again.

I have to remind myself that I'm an alcoholic. And that means that my brain will tell me any damn lie it can conceive of to get me to take 1 drink. Just one. Occasionally.

But my truth is:
I don't really want just one drink. I want all the drinks. I don't want to drink only occasionally. I want to drink all the time.

The only way I have found to keep myself from being a daily blackout drinker, is to never have even one. Not even on occasion. That's worked for me for over 5 years now. And I've never been happier.

Science has now proved what experience taught us addicts a long time ago. We cannot take a break, no matter how long, to reset our addiction and start using again as if we were never addicted. Addiction causes neurochemical changes within us and brain scans are showing them to be permanent. In a way, I find this knowledge a little depressing because I miss the microbrew aspect of drinking. I enjoyed trying new things and learning the nitty gritty science behind the recipes. Back before I was just drinking to get drunk. But in another way it's helpful. There are plenty of healthier distractions. And most long term successful people do not use distractions in their day to day life the way I did. They're productive, in some way, most of the time. The hard partying rich person stereotype is usually the children of rich people, or entertainers/athletes, who are not the bulk of successful people. They're just the ones we see in media.

Even in recovery we are still alcoholics. Sober 10+ years, I can never go back. Occasional drinking can never be a thing in my life.

Hey, everyone. Thank you for taking the time to talk about this and share your feelings on the topic and experience. I would also agree that if you're an alcoholic you can never go back to drinking. Maybe this is more for people who were heavy drinkers and occasional binge drinkers. Today, there are programs like Moderation Management, which do allow for a certain level of controlled drinking and supposedly have helped many to learn to drink safely. However, these programs are not meant for everyone of course. But with that said, I feel like people who got sober have admitted to themselves that they have a problem. I can't imagine being sober for 4 or 5 years and "looking forward" to drinking in moderation someday. It just sounds like they haven't done the work still or that they are lying to themselves. I understand that you can heal the things that made you want to drink and maybe heal the relationship with alcohol, but for people who are addicted, they can never go back. I do wanna talk to her about it, I'm curious to know the reasons for wanting to go back to it. I like hearing all different perspectives. She helped me a lot in the beginning and gave me amazing advice of celebrating every milestone. I guess everyone's journey is different. I know I never wanna go back to drinking. I love my clear mind way too much to go back to numbness and forgetfulness and not knowing where the day/time went, but also eventually hating myself. Thank you again, looking forward to being 1 year sober. It's going to be 5 months soon and I love the new me. Sometimes I have anxiety/stress dreams that I somehow relapsed and there's still that fear even tho I really don't want to drink again. I actually went out last week to a drag show and it was my first outing in 3 years and it was the first time in a really long that I went out and I wasn't drinking. It felt SO good! I was very proud of myself. And honestly after a lot of dancing and jumping, all I want is water, haha. I would hate to dehydrate myself further. Thank you for reading all of this! 😅

thanks for sharing 🙂 have a wonderful day with a clear mind. I agree with you, there is no going back for me either. I don't even want to think about it, a waste of brainpower trying to rationalize drinking again, for me in my situation at least. It's easy to say that right now after a good night's sleep and a beautiful day ahead of me 🥰 It will be a year next week for me and can hardly believe it 😂

Thanks for summing this up: Why risk ruining a good thing by experimenting with something that has beaten me up so many times before?