Whe i first quit, i thought what was unmanageable in my life was my alcohol consumption. After a period of sobriety, i realized that the hows of my life -- my decisions, my disappointments, my reactions to people and situations -- they were all unmanageable. My life was run on my own self will. My expectations of how things should be, how people should treat me, etc. When those expectations were not met, i reacted in certain ways.
i got sober, but life did not magically get better. In fact, for a period of time, things got, or seemed worse. I didn't have alcohol to fall back on. Thus, i had to learn a new way of living. To do that, i grabbed ahold of the steps with the desparation of a drowning woman. And it has made all the difference.
I should add, i was "functioning" as well, in the ways you described. I didn't lose anything, nor had any legal problems due to drinking. Well, i lost my self respect. That was enough. But i functioned, i had learned how to do that. My alcoholic life was the only one i knew, it seemed normal to me.