It doesn’t matter what we call it.
Alcoholic. Heavy drinker. Problem drinker. Gray-area drinker. Binge drinker.
None of those labels change what we already know.
The truth is simple: alcohol has become a problem in our life — and that’s enough.
The Comparison Game Keeps Us Stuck
It’s easy to compare.
“At least I’m not drinking every day.”
“I still show up to work.”
“I haven’t hit rock bottom.”
But comparison only slows us down. It gives us a reason to delay, to justify, to hang on just a little longer. We keep measuring ourselves against someone else’s story instead of facing our own.
And while we’re busy trying to figure out if we’re “bad enough,” alcohol keeps doing its thing — draining our focus, eroding our confidence, and dulling our edge.
The Trap Is the Same — No Matter Where We’re Standing
Whether we’ve had one rough month or ten hard years, the mechanics are the same:
- We use alcohol to cope, unwind, or escape
- It works — until it doesn’t
- Then it takes more than it gives
- And eventually, we start feeling stuck
It doesn’t matter how deep the trap is. What matters is that we’ve seen it. We’ve felt the pull. And we’re ready to get out.
We don’t have to wait for things to fall apart to know something’s off.
Sometimes the signs are quieter:
We’re more irritable.
We feel less sharp.
Our motivation dips, even when everything looks fine on the outside.
Maybe we’re just tired of negotiating with ourselves — promising to cut back, to skip a night, to stop overthinking it. But we never feel fully free.
That’s enough.
We don’t need a dramatic story or a label to validate the decision.
We don’t need to lose everything to know it was already costing us more than it gave.
Choosing to quit doesn’t require a crisis. It just requires clarity.
Clarity Is Enough
We don’t need a label.
We don’t need permission.
We don’t need to check boxes or qualify for recovery.
All we need is this: the realization that alcohol was taking more from us than it was giving — and the willingness to choose something better.
Because this isn’t about fitting a definition.
It’s about taking back control.
— Brent