Great Topic, great posts
I'll add my 2 cents.
The "whys?" are easy for me, and I don't dwell on them:
-It helped me fit in,
-I liked it,
-And I was young, and never developed other coping skills
Why I continued is a little harder, but is getting clearer:
-Hereditary alcoholism manifests itself through different biochemistry that facilitates addiction
-Never developed those coping skills.
It's not like I have a ton of experience in sobriety. But what is helping me in moving forward is developing those coping skills, and realizing why I drank in the past, and that its not who I am now. And what really has given me peace recently is understanding (and seeing, unfortunately) that my body physically does not process alcohol like normal drinkers do.