Why You’re Not an Alcoholic And Why That Matters

We’ve been taught to believe that if you struggle with alcohol, it must mean there’s something wrong with you. A flaw. A broken part. A label that defines your entire identity: “alcoholic.”

But that label has never actually explained the truth.

Let’s look at it this way:

If a person has stage 4 cancer, and you place them alone on an island, away from all treatment and support, what happens?

They get sicker. The illness progresses. The disease continues without intervention.

Now imagine someone who believes they’re an “alcoholic.”

Place them on an island. What happens?

They don’t get sicker.

They don’t die from the “disease.”

They… start living.

They eat fresh fruit, drink water, sleep better, move their body, breathe clean air, and probably end up with a great tan.

Why?

Because the problem was never inside the person.

The problem was the substance

and their relationship with it.

Alcohol is an addictive drug.

It rewires your brain, it creates dependence, it builds tolerance, and it tricks you into believing you are the issue.

But remove the alcohol?

Your brain resets. Your body heals. Your clarity returns.

There’s no mysterious “disease” progressing in the darkness.

This is why you are not an alcoholic.

You are a human who consumed an addictive substance, consistently, socially, and often unknowingly because the world told you it was normal, glamorous, even healthy.

You weren’t weak.

You weren’t broken.

You weren’t destined for addiction.

You were responding exactly as a human brain responds to an addictive drug.

And the moment you step away from the substance, you don’t deteriorate…

You thrive.