Originally Posted by
MindfulMan 
Drinking is big fun.
Until it isn't.
Once it isn't, it never will be again.
Addiction is using in the face of increasingly negative consequences. Trips to the ER and medical detox to avoid DTs are clearly negative consequences. You've clearly crossed a line, and will never be able to drink non-addictively. Period.
You are 25 and have two choices. Spend the next 10+ years of your life going in and out of alcoholism, wasting your time, your life, and the lives of anyone close to you, damaging your health, until you finally reach a point where you have to quit to avoid jail, homelessness or death.
Or you can quit now and continue living a real life.
If you keep drinking, the next ten years will not be sad. They will be tragic. You may view sober as sad, but even if true (if you do it right, it isn't btw), your alternative is horrible.
Choice is yours.
Mainly it was just fun before the addiction, it more became a medication for insomnia and just to kill boredom and time. I suppose now I just see where things go and if the fear of having to visit the ER again and face withdrawals again keeps me off or not. The other alternatives don't really scare me - just dealing with the physical problems of quitting does.
Yep, it's pretty common that there is not a lot of general understanding out there about addiction. Most people don't even think of alcohol as a "drug" to be honest.
My main point with that was I see people being critical and harsh on people like us for it while they're on the edge of falling into exactly where we are because they don't understand the consequences of it. I know people knowing what can happen won't stop everyone, but I figure if it was more well known it may prevent a very small percentage of people from getting hooked. Not a big change, but still a few thousand less people dealing with alcohol dependence is a nice thought.