Alcohol is a depressant. If you've got to the stage of alcoholism where you have been regularly drinking too much, your nervous system is probably shot to pieces.
I found I had to completely stop drinking to protect my mental health. I think of it this way: my body was already at a certain anxiety and depression setting because of the abuse from alcohol over years. Cutting down my intake would have been an improvement from the perspective of day to day competence, but from a mental health standpoint every drink kept me from getting better. The only thing that would allow the re-set of my mental health was complete abstinence.
Although I felt better within weeks (even days) of sobriety, it took some months for the 'air to clear' completely and for me to feel mentally free from the toxicity of alcohol. That's why sobriety is so important.
Honestly, you won't even know how bad it is until you get free of it and look back.
I was a complete wreck. I can't believe I tried to function like that.