You don't owe alcohol a thing, you don't owe your old self a thing
You can break up with alcohol like the abusive ex that you know has been bad for you for so long.
You don't owe your old drunk self a thing either. This has been important to me in finally getting sober. I do not owe my old self a thing - the mistakes and shame, money loss, lies - that old self can take a hike. There's nothing wrong with a clean break, a cold hard break-up.
You don't have to let regret tie you to that old drunk self. You can leave him in his dark, curtain-drawn apartment, hiding from the world, ducking life.
You can even be gentle to that old drunk self. You can feel sadness for the pain he put himself through, the ways in which he floundered and fell. But you don't have to let that empathy tie you to him anymore.
You can walk away, for good, for the good in you and what you might be able to accomplish, big or small, with what sober life you have left.
I don't owe alcohol a thing. I don't owe my old, small, hurting drunk self a thing. It's a break-up I am proud of.