Charlotte, I want to chime in and say that I honestly don't know if you are an alcoholic. I am sensitive to the idea of responding to somebody in a way that will not help them, but all I can do is be honest.
What I do see is a concern about your behavior, your routine and you are takinga look at your "relationship with alcohol." Sounds good to me. On the YES side, I can tell you that your post reminded me of my questioning stage more than 10 years ago. And now I DO say I am an alcoholic and have stopped drinking. I am convinced I did the right thing by quitting because the relationship with alcohol was "pervasive." It was a main ingredient to life and it was an obstruction - to the point where OTHER pieces of life were getting in the way of experiencing alcohol. (Even though I was very studious and passionate about work, etc etc, and did not have a lot of catastrophic incidents stemming from using it.) It could very well be that you are at an earlier stage if the alcoholism is true. If it is not true, then I guess you are simply taking a look at it and see stopping as a good move.
You also have an open mind, and I think that is going to be helpful. Unfortunately for people that suffer from addiction, it can take a long time to cooperate with one's best wishes for oneself. (In my case, that meant drinking for another 10 years when I could have come to the realization that I needed to stop.)
My suggestion is to roam through the boards some more and ponder what can be learned and also think about the various methods. Maybe you could go to an AA meeting to give it a try. (Don't worry about any mention about "God" - it's not really religious in nature, in the sense of I'm A Sinner and I Must Worship My Creator, it's more like "spiritual" and believing that a connection in you with some concept that supports you. I have a friend on these boards - Tazman - who said he knows at least one agnostic who later became an atheist yet still uses AA.) I don't go to meetings (I have been to them in the past), but I believe there are elements of it that are actually having an impact on me, and in the ways I need, here. I read a little bit about LifeRing and that sounds interesting in the sense of empowering people. There are people who use a combo of things. I think there are some people who only use this site as far as support groups go. I started coming here after about 6 weeks sobriety because I wanted to investigate for myself what was going on, what I could expect; and then an exchange of support happened right away, and I think I have been here almost every day since.
I think it is a worthwhile idea to continue not drinking and see how it goes and study the situation. Remember the by-products of not drinking ($aving, etc etc) as a way to stay off it if that works. Good for you!