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When Recovering Alcoholics Tear Each Other Down
Just because someone quit drinking, it doesn’t mean that they’re a nice person.
This essay originally appeared in the Exploring Sobriety newsletter.
Most of the sober people that I’ve met are nice. I’ll even go so far as to say that some of the most compassionate and empathetic people I’ve met have been fellow recovering alcoholics.
We all know how badly an addiction can ruin your life, and we all know how hard it is to overcome an addiction and turn our lives around. This shared experience fosters a sympathetic and supportive community.
Unfortunately, there are also sober people who break this pattern. There is a small, but loud minority of people in the recovery community who are downright nasty to their peers.
I’ve met these people in face-to-face recovery meetings and I’ve encountered even more of them online.
The kind of people that I’m talking about are the ones who show up to a recovery space with nothing but arrogance and a chip on their shoulder. They believe that they are right about everything related to sobriety. (And perhaps everything else too!) They talk down to other recovering alcoholics and seem to be more interested in making people feel bad than helping them.
