Hi there. I got sober at 23 and I'm from England. I'm Coming up 17 months sober in just over a week, 'One day at a time' of course. I'm an alcoholic. I use AA, SR and much wisdom from elsewhere in my daily recovery. I also used Mental health assistance on NHS to address stuff that I knew I needed to address when I was 9 months sober.
I think getting as much help as possible is essential as in the UK, as you know, booze is everywhere and a massive part of life, especially being young.
One thing is for sure and that's if you're an alcoholic then things will only get worse if you continue to take the first drink. I knew for me then the only outcome if I would have continued to drink would have been prison, homelessness, institution, death. That is because the nature of my drinking was in massive binges spent in blackout for large parts. For me then I knew that if I continued to drink then my life could only go one direction and that is downwards.
I have managed to rebuild my life piece by piece 'one day at a time' and all this is underpinned by my acceptance that I'm an alcoholic and addict and that the only drink/drug I have to stay away from is the first one 'just for today'. All the good stuff stems from that acceptance.
All The best man, peace.