So, here goes my version.

You know you’re an alcoholic when…

…you drink before you even leave your house for the party so you can get extra smashed without people noticing how much you’re drinking…

…you ask the guy in the liquor store for advice on wine and cognacs for “a party” you are throwing because you are embarrassed you have bought booze there three times already that week..enough to last a month in normal households…

You know you’re an alcoholic when…

…you switch where you buy your booze on different days so the stranger working behind the counter doesn’t judge you for buying too much, too often…

…you genuinely  can’t remember what you did that made your husband/boyfriend/wife/girlfriend so pissed off…

…your friend tells you you were really amusing on the phone last night and you are baffled because you don’t even remember calling them…

You know you’re an alcoholic…

…when you empty the leftover wine in other peoples’ glasses as you’re cleaning up the dishes, even though you’re already drunk…

…You keep a “public” bottle on the counter so family can see you aren’t drinking THAT much, but have a “private” bottle for your more excessive consumption…

…and yet your family still comments on how fast the “public” bottle is going down…

You know you’re an alcoholic when…

…you switch to an alcohol you don’t really like (scotch, blech) because you think you won’t drink as much if you can’t stand the taste…

…you switch back to your favorite drink later that same night…

And you really know you’re an alcoholic when…

…you get so sick from a binge that you still think you’re going to puke three days after the binge is over.

I’m sure you have some good ones for the list – feel free to add them in the comments!

The biggest barrier to getting into recovery is finding that full acceptance that you and alcohol are better off without each other.

I always like to say that you should avoid the definitions when you are trying to figure out if you need help. People still like to think of an alcoholic as only that person who wakes up in the morning shaking so they have a shot of booze in their OJ to settle the shakes.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

I like to define it this way: If when you drink alcohol, bad things happen, you’ve got a problem.

We are hearing a lot about the woman in New York who killed herself, her daughter, and three nieces, as well as two people in another vehicle while driving the wrong way on the highway. Her family doesn’t believe she was an alcoholic. Maybe it’s just the label. This was certainly someone who had a problem with drinking.

It’s likely she didn’t drink all the time – didn’t fit that traditional myth of what an alcoholic is. Maybe she only drank on the weekends, or when on outings. But when she drank, she DRANK.

Binge drinkers are a tough lot to crack – they often think because they only get drunk once and a while, they dont’ have a problem.  If you ask that question: when you drink, do bad things happen – you have your answer. Forget the labels for now – just deal with the problem.