Originally Posted by
AlericB 
When I look back to why I started drinking I think it was a (mistaken) choice I made in the belief that it would give me confidence, relaxation, good social skills etc. This choice seemed quite harmless at first but when it began to cause problems in my life, I found I just shrugged them off and carried on.
It was as if on one level I was still holding on to my initial belief that drinking would help me despite all the warning signs. However, at the same time part of me did want to stop, more and more and I think this was because as I learnt more about alcoholism my views about drinking naturally changed.
I could have wrote this.
I had alcoholics on both sides of my family. I didn't start drinking heavily until I was 25. I hated what alcoholism did to my father, uncles, grandfather, etc. and I didn't what to be like them.
But once I gave in and got deep into alcoholism myself I told myself it was my destiny and alcoholism was in my family and I needed booze to make myself complete.
The first decade of my daily drinking was usually always great fun; but the last 2 decades were a miserable habit I couldn't shake because I didn't know how to stop, after all I figured being a drunk was my destiny.