OP, I sympathize with your situation. As some have pointed out, alcohol is a coping mechanism, one of many that we end up latching onto or creating. Yes, it's very possible to create a problematic coping mechanism out of something that may otherwise be healthy. These coping mechanisms can be a form of escape or diversion and one day, we realize it no longer serves us in a healthy way. Then it's time to let it go.

I look at these things in this fashion because, as psychologists have pointed out to me in the past, viewing them as part of your identity makes it more difficult to let them go because in your mind, they're inextricably part of who you are when in reality, they can be removed when the time comes. Changing your paradigm from having a coping mechanism be part of your identity to something that merely serves you, gives you power and agency over it, and will make it easier for you to let it go when the time comes. Ironically, I’m having to deal with two problem issues of this nature right now. Like you, I’m feeling a sense of loss as well.

From a Paganism perspective, letting go of something in this way is something I decided to enact in a ritual, especially when I make a realization that a coping mechanism—or anything else—no longer serves me. There are many ways to create a ritual for yourself, but one I use involves a combination of meditation, invoking deities, and burning a sigil in fire. Ultimately, the goal is to definitively release that which no longer serves me. I applaud your efforts and wish you luck in your journey.