So let's discuss some of the labels you might face, either in your drinking years or in your sobriety. All right, we'll start with those associated with drinking. I know that Vicks mentioned a few that she had already. And then we'll make our way along the journey to sobriety. Yeah. Okay. So where are we going to start, Hamish? Well, we've mentioned alcoholic, which we'll focus on a little bit more in more detail than a second. Okay. That's always a big one to start with.

Yep.

And then there's problem drinker. Yeah. Which you've sort of used as your thing. You sort of wedded yourself to problem drinker. I guess it's a more forgiving way, like an alternative to alcoholic. Yes. Yes is a step down and much kind of, right?

Definitely. I would say I was a problem drinker.

I was somebody that couldn't stop once she started and that was a problem because it made

me unwell. So that makes sense to me. And I don't mind that language.

Because I think also the word alcoholic, it reminds me of anonymous and being alcoholic and

being anonymous, which

of course is I don't want to associate with that brand or with that label because I'm not

about being anonymous. I'm about you talking about your sobriety and putting it out there and being

open about it. I'm not about it being kept behind closed doors and it being a secret. So both

of those words don't resonate

with me and that's why I choose a different label. Is the opposite of anonymous, nimus?

We want to be nimous in our sobriety. Non-nimus. Yes. Another obviously negative word,

along with alcoholic, is addict. Addicts,ict's filthy. Addict's a dirty one.

Yeah, that's what the people think, isn't it? Yeah. I wonder what the definition of an addict is. Like, I'd like to look that up, actually. I might have a look at that. But it's just somebody that can't stop doing something. And really, the definition isn't that bad. but when you hear that word, it conjures up an image of somebody

on heroin, behind a 7-Eleven jacking up with a needle. It's not true. It's belittling, isn't it?

You're a bit of a bit of a bit. You'd feel very small, I think. And it makes you sound like,

people are addicts all their lives. They may have had an addiction at some point,

but they're still an addict no matter what. And to have that label throughout your life,

once you've given something up, I'm not sure that it's going to be helpful. But as we'll find

out later in the podcast, sometimes it can be. Yes, that's exactly what you need for some people.

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