I learned the hard way that leaving the problems at the end of the bottle doesn't help anyone - it ruins everything in your general vicinity. Your health, your mind, your family, your friends, your partner, the list goes on.
I started drinking when I was eighteen (the legal age here in Australia) up until then, I had been a quiet, educated child who didn't go out and cause trouble for myself or others. Oh boy, alcohol in arm with a deadly self-destructive attitude sure changed everything!
First time I drank, I drank so much I got drunk. I saw how great it was to be completely detached from your body and mind. Alcohol gave me some thrilling experiences, fooling around with strangers, running from the cops, nights of hardcore dancing with blisters in the morning and so on. It also gave me horrible experiences that still linger on my mind to this day, such as my male "friend" coercing my drunken state into sex, landing in the hospital with seizures due to mixing alcohol with anti-depressants, losing my social circle of friends from high-school due to my ridiculous drinking habits, many failed relationships and so on.
I just couldn't stay away from the seductive whispers of my dear old friend, alcohol. But as time went on, the many months I remain sober, the more I realize when I raise the glass or bottle to my lips, all those bad experiences come crushing back full-force. I had lost so much and gained only a small handful of fun experiences. Alcohol was fun for a little while, then it just stopped being entertaining when I started looking like a walking tragedy of self-loathing.
Yesterday, I had a small amount of my favorite poison to "relax" and went dressed up in my avatar to a dance lesson with a few friends for fun. I had a good time, I didn't care about what people thought of my appearance but I realized that wasn't the alcohol talking. It was me - I had matured and gained confidence since the last time I drank. Since then, I had come to terms with my asexuality (I drank because I wanted to be "normal" aka enjoy sex like everyone else) and my gender identity (Transitioning helped ease the self-loathing and I learned to accept myself, flaws and all).
It was then that I knew alcohol had lost its power over me. Alcohol doesn't serve me any purpose anymore now that I'm happy.