Hi, Amanda.
Well, if you want support, I'd say you've come to the right place.
I understand how you feel. For a long time, I drank to escape my problems. But you know what? It turned out that drinking caused most of my problems, or at least made them all seem worse. I thought I drank because I was down, but now that I've been sober for a while, I realize I was down because I drank. I'm not saying it's easy, or that all my problems disappeared and all my dreams miraculously came true. But I wake up feeling good about myself, and I go to bed feeling the same way. And once I started looking at myself in a more positive way, everything else started to look better to me. Even bad days seemed more manageable.
I lost my dog to cancer this week. He was my best buddy, and got me through some very dark, lonely times. I miss him a lot, but I'm glad I quit drinking when I did. They can tell when we're depressed, and can tell when we're happy, and I have a feeling he sensed the change in me. I like to think it made his final months better.