When I was stressed/excited/anxious/angry/etc I only knew how to dull those emotions rather than actually deal with them. Any sort of overwhelming feeling was just too much and I didn't know what to do with myself but drink. It took me out of the 'whoa I feel crazy' and into the 'ahhhh everything is OK now' but of course, the next day I felt crazier than ever and it was completely useless. Learning to deal with overwhelming emotion, or even energy for me, has been quite tricky... I still find it difficult to know what to do with myself sometimes, but I would never consider drinking to 'solve' it now.
It was all about escaping responsibility for me, I think.