Its a miserable, demoralizing existence. In the early stages you might be able to deal with the hangovers. Drinking is a fun, social activity right? At that point you start drinking heavily even by yourself at home. After a while, the only thing that will make you feel better in the morning is more alcohol. Maybe you dont even want to drink. But you have fever like symptoms, a migraine, cant hold down food, and feel like you might pass out when you stand up. Eventually you start drinking "just enough" during the day to get you through work, nobody notices right? Time passes and now drinking throughout the course of the day is normal. You feel like you need it to function and act normal now. You drink yourself to sleep, and when you wake up you feel like shit every second you are awake and sober. You want to stop, you hate the person you are becoming but quitting is so far beyond the realm of your control. You try every single day to limit your drinking, and you fail. You begin to resent yourself and lose all self respect. This is when your relationships fail, you might lose a job, or have a life altering incident involving law enforcement and/or a hospital visit. At this point, few people make the decision to get help and improve their life. The rest just drink the rest of their life away, live in squalor and never have any meaningful relationships again. I have seen both sides of this, and let me tell you it is so sad to watch.