Alcohol "merely" held me back a little bit when I was your age. It held me back more in my 30s and nearly destroyed my life in my 40s. I still managed a life that just about anyone would consider "successful," but there is no question that I would have done more and better things had alcohol not been in my life. I don't spend much time looking back, but if I could do it over again, I definitely would have quit at your age. Why would anyone follow a path that prohibits them from reaching their greatest potential? Presumably, we only get one shot at this whole "life" thing, so why would we knowingly hold ourselves back? It just isn't logical, but that's the nature of the disease. I'm now 46 and nothing is holding me back. I'm going to have a wild and crazy and successful ride here over the next 30 years or so, and it will all be possible because I took the actions necessary to free myself of booze.