That shit is definitely a combo of genetics and the environment in which you were reared.
Addiction runs on both sides of my family, and my dad was a barely-functional alcoholic and terrible father through my teenage years through to last year, when he finally put down the fucking bottle, at least for now.
I am very conscious of my own tendencies toward substance abuse, I sometimes rely on alcohol to numb the bad feelings. I'm lucky I haven't fallen in a hole I can't climb out of.
I haven't had a drink in two weeks. Not a long time in the grand scheme, but it's a big step. I don't want to be like my father, or his father, who by all accounts was ten times worse. That's what I think about when I pass the beer aisle.
I'm not about to tell you what to do, you're a grown adult, but I think I can empathize at least a little bit as far as alcohol goes.
I don't know why I'm blogging here but we didn't choose the thug life, the thug life chose us.