I think I'm somewhat proof that alcohol can sneak up on you at any time, especially when you no longer expect it... After my dad died when I was 13 - from alcohol, yes - I had no time for the stuff at all. I didn't like the taste, and I was certainly warned about how dangerous it could be. To top it off, I also disliked drunk people.
As a teen, even though I could be found in discotheques every weekend, I never drank. On occasion I would try a beer when offered, but after one I had more than enough. Cola was just fine. Same thing in college: it just didn't appeal to me, and while social pressure was intense - most student activities were focused on getting hammered - I doubt I drank more than 20 beers a year. Not because I was "moderating" or anything like that: it just didn't play a big role. I even helped create a student society that focused on everything
but alcohol, as a counter weight to the silly stuff (and the yearly alcohol poisonings).
It's only much later, when I got married and created my own company, that at times a whisky - which I had to cut with cola as I still didn't like the taste - came in useful to help relax after a stressful day. From there it became a blurred line; my work became way too stressful, I started to have blood pressure problems, then acid reflux, then tinnitus... I was running on empty for a long time, and somehow that one whisky became a few. After bad days, after good days, after "nothing much happened" days.
In the course of 10 years I seamlessly graduated from occasional drinker to "
I probably drink too much" to "
I definitely drink too much" to a full blown alcoholic needing 1.5 bottles a day, and some Xanax in the mornings to battle withdrawal. It was ugly, and I still have a hard time forgiving myself entirely. I knew so well how it could/would end, it seemed like a very bad joke. Even though I don't believe in "fate", I thought at one point that it was inevitable I would end up like my dad - especially as I got closer to the age he was when he died on his birthday (55).
Still can't express how glad I am that I managed to break the cycle - for both alcohol and benzos. That "fate" was just my addiction talking.
Anyway, just a lot of words to say I was in my early forties.
