About 10 years now since I considered myself a drinker.
I wasn’t alcoholic in the sense of ‘can’t function without a drink inside me’ but whenever I had a drink, I couldn’t stop – the switch that said you’ve had enough now didn’t work and as a result I was getting into messier and messier situations. I twice vomited in my sleep and woke up covered in it (fortunate not to choke on it I guess) and a couple of nights out in London ended up coming round to find myself sleeping rough in underpasses, etc., one time minus the cash contents of my wallet.
Cutting down wasn’t an option, every time I tried the switch would just malfunction again, so I had to stop. To start with mates were a bit odd about it and they didn’t really understand the situation that drove me to it – they were more ‘good man, you’re a monster on the beer’ – but in time they came round. I drove a lot which gave me the excuse not to drink, and other times just avoided the first one. I didn’t drink full stop for about a year, then gradually reintroduced it but the switch works fine now, and the same group of mates have all grown up a bit too so the peer pressure is gone too. I can go months without a drink, other times i fancy a beer or a glass of wine so i have one, and occasionally I go out drinking for a special occasion, but I’m in control now not the other way round.