Welcome Curious Fox.
I hope you find your answers.
I can tell you that for me, I thought like you for a long time:
I think for me if the option is to either continue as I am or completely stop drinking, then I'd end up continuing as I am...
So I took it to the MAX and at just shy of my 36th birthday I died while detoxing (yes they had the TOD on my ER medical chart). Oh I am here, so I was given a 2nd chance.
As I started to get over that horrible experience, I again started thinking well maybe, just maybe I am not.
Now back when I found recovery there was only one game in town and that was AA. I found something in the Big Book of AA in the first paragraph of chapter 4:
If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if, when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic.
Well there I had it, short, sweet, to the point and describing me perfectly. That convinced me!
I am an alcoholic. I started working on my recovery and staying sober, and in just over a month will celebrate 28 years continuously sober and clean.
Had I had a wee bit more sense when I was your age, I would have listened to that 'niggling voice' in the back of my head and done something about it, and saved myself 14 years of PURE H*LL.
Only you can decide, what is best for you.
I will suggest you read around the site, check out the 'stickys' at the tops of the Alcoholism forum and the Alcoholism 12 forum. I hope they help you decide.
Love and hugs,