It is very good to see that people are aware using alcohol is not a great way to self-soothe. It does not sound like my story is relevant to any of you because I had a pretty severe problem with alcohol for many years and really struggled to stay sober in the beginning (for me, there is no such thing as moderating alcohol anymore, only abstinence works). The one thing I want to point out: it is very easy to slowly slide into a habit from occasional drinking when one starts to use it to self-medicate stress or even to increase pleasure. I was in gross denial for a good while, until it became a serious problem. Of course not everyone will develop this issue, some people are predisposed to it biologically, have general issues setting limits etc, others can use it mindfully and responsibly and will never have a problem or can catch it early on (like the posters in this thread). I am only posting this because alcohol use was by far the most difficult thing I had to deal with in my life and it had made everything in my mental health much worse. I actually don't have significant mental health issues sober at all, some anxiety but it is easy to manage. But that anxiety also became the worst nightmare when I was drinking heavily and freshly sober, for a good while. I also hid relapses from my therapists - of course, I did not want to stop. But what good is therapy for then?

The thing to watch out for is when substance use gets such that the person struggles to say no to it and consciously inhibit/limit it. Also when someone starts to have strong urges to drink in response to a stressful event. So much easier to resolve when these things are caught early. For me, it has taken some herculean efforts and some irreversible losses - if I could go back and change one thing in my life, it would be never developing that habit in the first place. I know this sounds dramatic but it can easily became that way if one is prone to it, and most people don't even know that they have a predisposition before it is already a problem. It is much much easier to tolerate and manage stress and everything for me than leading an alcoholic life in secret.