I got stuck in a loop where I thought alcohol was helping me cope with my anxiety, so therefore I could drink more than would be normal in a situation. The thing I wasn't able to realize at the time (took 5 months of sobriety to realize) was that in actuality, the alcohol was actually making things worse! What I thought was helping was making things worse, so I would turn to it for more help, things would get even worse, and so continues the vicious cycle of drinking!