Hi,
I didn't experience the 'pink cloud' thing either.
I had too much guilt and shame to deal with and it took me quite awhile before I started to feel positive mentally.
I also had anxiety as a child/teenager, but I didn't know what was going on. Drinking was an attempt to self-medicate, but of course it ended up increasing the anxiety a lot.
Now that I'm sober, I still have a lot of anxiety and sometimes I have panic attacks. It isn't easy to deal with these feelings, but I have found that exercise helps, music helps. It has also helped me to establish boundaries around myself so as to not get caught up in the drama in other people's lives.