It's different for every I suppose.
I personally will drink 6 to 8 beers a day for no reason. I felt driven more than a craving - probably a bit of psychological damage. Sometimes I felt like a beer, sometimes I felt required.
BUT, binge drinking I loved but not on my own. If I didn't feel driven to drink daily I'd love to be able to binge occasionally but if I did tonight I'd immediately start drinking daily. Alcohol free days etc didn't work so it was game over or destroy myself.
I go to AA occasionally just to remind myself not to stop giving up. Some people there after after months say everytime they drive past a bottle shop they have the urge to pull in. Everytime they drink they must get smashed. Others talk about drinking up to 3 bottles of spirits - usually vodka for those types and starting in the morning.
So, ultimately it's different for all of us, as are the reasons we started and kept going. Where I remember just wanting to drink as a kid and hating beer when I started at 17 I felt driven. Others at AA talk about being sucked into daily drink usually due to work but some because of social circles.
So ultimately the way we drink and the reason etc are all different. The only thing we have in common is the realization that it is something that will destroy us, that we can't manage like 'normal' people and therefore must refrain from it. The incidents that helped us find realisation also differ. Some people hit rock bottom, some lost or were about to loss family and jobs, others ended up in hospital and some were living on the street.
I had a few indicators (blood tests) showing my liver was struggling, night sweats, a few other things but most of all a lot of alcoholism in my family. It plagued my mind for a few years. Finally drinking with my alcoholic neighbour who had severe diabetes and lecturing him made me look at myself. So thankfully I didn't fall as hard and far as some, but again we are all different in reasons for starting and stopping, the extent, effects etc etc