Coming out entirely came back to bite me in the ass after a DUI in the past. I was stigmatized horribly at work. A moral failing to my heavy drinking, wealthy employer and his heavy drinking higher ups. Customers changed their behavior around me and coming clean about my addiction to the legal system actually did more to damage my case. The system beat me over the head with that confession!! I’m not in disagreement with the premise of your article though. It’s never good to harbor too many secrets and being open with your experience can be liberating, but in certain situations, keeping your past to yourself might be worth considering. If the people you have to interact with believe you’re “damaged goods”, you may be compromising your future opportunities and jeopardizing your career. I’m mostly closeted about my past now, but I am coming out very cautiously. I have gradually made many close people aware of my struggles over the past few years, when that used to be a secret that guarded ferociously. As I grow stronger as a person and have more “safely” established myself professionally, I will be more forthcoming about why I don’t choose to drink. I just need to feel more bulletproof, so my honesty isn’t weaponized, before I am willing to share my past. (It’s impossible for non-addicted people to truly understand us and that isn’t their fault.) There have been times that keeping some things to myself has spared me a lot of misery. All of that being said, I’ll come out entirely when the time is right. For now, I don’t feel like I owe an explanation to anyone about why I don’t drink. Let them speculate. I don’t really care. I know plenty of people that don’t drink because they don’t care to. That’s good enough for me.

Love this article and your writing. Keep up the good work! 💪 You’re providing valuable insight!