I've been drinking since I've entered the workforce after college. I didn't miss a day of drinking for about 7-8 years. I was an intern during college and would show up hung over a lot. I was the guy in the elevator with you holding a Gatorade, a Redbull and a bag full of McDonalds breakfast at 8am every day. It was pretty manageable because I didn't really have too much responsibility. But I felt like hell every morning and would act like it too.
Then my drinking ramped up quite a bit after graduating and getting a big boy job. I continued going in hungover and feeling horrible. It slowly got to the point I would come in late at least 2-3 times a week because I drank too much too late the night before. I never thought drinking would cause me to call in late. THEN I started calling out. I didn't use sick days because I felt guilty, but my vacation days were long gone before the end of the year came. The result is that I was in the same position I started with 4 years later. My peers from college were managing, moving up, getting more responsibility and doing awesome at their jobs. I was late all the time, called in sporadically because I was too drunk to drive in at 7am, and stayed stagnant because of drinking.
I had quit drinking for about 6 weeks early this year and it was such a dramatic change that I got a promotion from just being sober 6 weeks. 4 years of nothing then 6 weeks of sobriety got me up another rung on the ladder. That led to a little celebration that got out of hand (can you say weeklong bender and calling into work 5 days in a row?) but I'm starting over fresh with sobriety and looking forward to being more productive with my life. Any CFAs out there please shoot over a message to me!