I stopped worrying about what other people thought about my drinking and had to assess my own drinking, others would say and still say I didn't have a problem, but alcohol was causing problems in my own life so I needed to make a change to my relationship with alcohol regardless of their opinions.
For me I went round and round in circles on the experiment of moderation, each time things would progress as bad as before, I finally concluded the 1st drink was my problem, I drank to get drunk, and would still do so, a period of abstinence does not in some way cure or fix me, cutting out that first drink keeps the door of alcohol firmly shut, Sobriety for me was the only way forward to reclaim my life!!