Ok good point I suppose if we talk about it on here it could help more people! I stopped for more than one reason. Drinking stopped being fun and led to fights/police/other substances etc, i would make rules on where/what/when I could drink but couldn't keep to it, my Dad is an alcoholic who started as a heavy drinker and now has lost everything including his mind and i was heading down the same path. Theres a lot more messed up stuff in my journey but not wanting to share about it on here!
The biggest thing to remember is not to compare your drinking to others, wether you drink 5 or 100 pints if you want to stop but cannot or can stop for a while then end up back drinking when you truly don't want to you are probably an alcoholic.
You need to squash the idea in your head that an alcoholic is someone who drinks everyday on a park bench because thats not always true! Alcoholism is a progressive illness that never gets better only worse so why wait until you lose everything?
I couldn't socialise without a few beers in me and would be quiet/anxious. Now I have no problems socialising.
I was a binge drinker. I could stop for months at a time but would always end up drunk somewhere thinking how the f**k did this happen again?
I needed to follow a program because stopping drinking is only the first hurdle, its staying stopped and dealing with the reasons you drank heavily in the first place without just blocking it with alcohol. Everyones story is different and mine might not be the same as yours but if you go to meetings there will be someone there who has identical problems/reasons for drinking.
There is such thing as a dry drunk which is someone who isn't drinking but not following a program so still has an alcoholic mind. For example they are still restless, irritable, discontented, angry, aggressive etc.
It is the only thing that has worked for me to stay stopped for a long period and the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking so what you got to lose?? lol