"Hi, I'm an alcoholic. Hi, I'm an alcoholic."—It's no different than saying "Don't think of an elephant." In my first 5 years of AA, I often left the meeting, crossed the street and picked up at alcohol thinking: "I must not be working the AA program hard enough if the first thing I think about after a meeting is drinking."

Sinek says there's a more helpful way to get through, just follow the path. So how about a new world with new traditions? Where we don't identify ourselves as the disorder itself.

My mom has a disability—but I would never let my mom say, "Hello, I'm a disability."

So for my addictions, rather than "Don't fail, don't fail!" I'd much rather, "I see the path, I feel the path."

Heck yea, that's the kind of recovery I want.

"Follow the path. Follow the path to a more beautiful life. Go the road where there's a better, happier me, where I meet my needs through nourishing and healing means. As I follow the path, I've already noticed that I've started to show up for people. The people whom I love and who love me can trust and depend on me. This is a beautiful path. Follow the path."