Do I have to label myself an alcoholic in order to recover? I mean, I am, but when I think of how I quit smoking- I just call myself an exsmoker or a nonsmoker now- not a smokeaholic. One of the things that I was really proud of myself with somking (which I was extremely addicted to) is that I recognized it was an addiction that was ruining my life and I quit and put it in the past! Why is it that with alcoholism a lot of recovery dogma wants us to cling to the label of alcoholic and constantly revisit all the negative crap and the idea that it’s a disease? Can’t I just be an ex-drinker?