[hnaccount2001]

Basically I kept trying; IMO several “failures” were necessary. What really got me over the hump was taking up new hobbies that I couldn’t do hungover, and resetting my social life (meet friends for lunch, not drinks, etc). After a year or so of not drinking I now do have drinks every so often, maybe once a month, but my relationship to drinking is totally different now. I’ve become one of those people who feels sleepy and kind of gross after two drinks.

Psychotherapy helped with the hating myself when I failed (which was almost worse than the drinking itself). That was a major issue.