Yeah people know the image we have projected as a drunk, or the person we are drunk. And I guess getting them used to seeing a different us can take time. Sometimes we have to change our circle of friends, though we can't do much about relatives.
I admitted to myself I had a drink problem about a decade before I quit. From that point it was a series of situations, self denial, self loathing, day ones, bargains and fear that ultimately led to my last - fates willing - day one.
One such incident - at a family wedding a nephew who I love bounded up to me during the reception and asked "you pi$$ed yet auntie #?". No malice, just the assumption that I would be. I loathed myself for being 'that relative' the one everyone could rely on to get drunk at family gatherings and dance on tables, hug everyone and talk bulldoody all night. That didn't stop my drinking in and of itself, but it added to the accumulation of self loathing that eventually led to my nadir. Another nephew recently told me how much he admired me for living my life my way. I told him I had wasted far too much of it drunk and would not recommend living life ' my way' to anyone! I also to,d him I was not someone to admire. Well at least I had not been someone to admire, now I think I live a good life, a better way. I'm not there, life is a journey, but it's a better journey, I am a better person and when I meet family now, I don't give a hoot what they might expect from me. I expect more. And I quite enjoy introducing them to the new me, the real me, the me I should have always been.