Just started reading "Drinking, A Love Story" by Caroline Knapp.
Though the author grew up in an upper middle class family, the details of how she describes alcohol's increasing hold over her life resemble the road I traveled. Always rationalizing another drink, hiding booze around the house, sneaking drinks when no one was looking.
On a lark last night, I retook one of the many online alcohol tests that I repeatedly took to see if I really was an alcoholic. When I was drinking, I gave my responses every benefit of the doubt and yet they all said that I had a drinking problem. The Johns Hopkins test is my favorite, 20 questions only, and it tells you what stage of alcoholism you are(or were) in. Answering honestly, I found myself to be in the middle stage of alcoholism. Very scary stuff! Their excellent web site states that the usual time line when one begins drinking alcoholically to the end (death) averages around 15 years. I can't actually pinpoint the time that I officially began drinking alcoholically, but my clock must have been ticking for a while.
I feel especially fortunate to be off of that 15 year timeline now!
Have a great day everyone!
Test For Alcoholism. The Johns Hopkins Alcoholism Questionnaire.