well done on giving up.
I don't want to stop.
It's like smoking and cancer.
Not everyone who smokes gets it.
Many who don't get it.
So not everyone who drinks will get cirrhosis.
Life choice and life's chance.

I think badger was being more reflective.
I listened to part of the Chiles interview on radio, and it made uncomfortable listening. Chiles described how he was trying to get a work colleague to go for a lunchtime drink, but she refused. It wasn't until she told him she was pregnant, that he stopped pestering her.
Alcohol can impact in many subtle ways.
Sleeping patterns
financial impact
Social and domestic routines and these are a few on the low end of the scale.
at the higher end, you get domestic violence, drinking and driving, financial meltdown and health problems.

it's a tricky problem to discuss openly, because for a lot of people it's engrained into their mindset.
Football+beer, for example.
Or going down the pub with work colleagues on a Friday.

It's all about your own perception of what constitutes a problem, and I think that is what Chiles is trying to open up the debate about.
When I have had periods on the wagon (many months at a time), I see some definite improvements in my life

but life is all about choices. I still drink

I disengage, I turn the page.

I enjoy wine and good quality beer. I would miss the enjoyment of a nice glass or two of cote du rhone with a meal. Don't drink every day and rarely have a skinful. Last night for instance I had one glass of French Malbec with my dinner which greatly improved my enjoyment of the meal.

It's perfectly possible to enjoy alcoholic drinks in moderation and have too much to drink every once in a while without ruining your life or health. It's about being sensible most of the time and not going to extremes one way or the other.

Giving up for you was clearly a good move, but everyone's different. Also the evidence on how much alcohol is bad for you and whether certain amounts actually benefit certain aspects of health is far from conclusive. Regular binge drinking is clearly bad, but a glass of wine 5 times a week who knows.

You are correct.

What shocked me was my attitude to alcohol 2/3 months after I had given it up. It was only then that I realised just how much my life revolved around it and I think that Adrian Chiles is saying the same thing. I am not telling people to give up booze but many people are heavy drinkers and don't realise it.

We think of binge drinkers, drunks in the pub, brawling in the high sreet etc. The real health crisis is the person who has 1 or 2 a (every) night as they are not allowing their liver to recover. That is how I started, gradually over the years it became more drink and more often. I have never woke up wanting a drink but hangovers became a normal part of my life.

I think Adrian is quite brave to admit this as most blokes like my friends deny they have a problem. I guess they like him drink around 50-100 units a week. It's easy to do if you drink daily.

One more point

Agreed creating a social life that doesn't revolve around the pub was a big step for me as I love going to the pub and have been doing that since I was 14.

I did not want to go to AA but I recently spoke to a regular when I mentioned that I do yoga they said a lot of people at their meetings do the same. It doesn't matter what you choose but ideally it should be something that is social and helps you deal with the stress of daily life. Gym is a good way of getting fit and working off any anger you have have that day.

By the way most blokes think yoga is for girls (not manly). I have started to call it Resistance Training because partly it is. Try doing a plank or downward facing dog for 5 mins and you will see what I mean, just the same as lifting weights, in this case your entire body.

One more point

Lol mind you after a yoga session sex is the last thing on my mind.

One more point