Thanks for writing this. I agree with you 100%. I've stopped drinking as well. My husband is a wine enthusiast and collector, so I encounter a wine rack filled with bottles of "great wine" every day. I'm not tempted because I never developed a physical dependence on alcohol.

When I stopped, there were no withdrawal symptoms. I don't long for a drink. I finally realized that it was stupid to use alcohol, given my cancer and Alzheimer's family history. The stress surrounding the election made me psychologically dependent on alcohol, and I was drinking too much.

I forgot that I had unloaded the dishwasher or did the laundry the night before. I couldn't remember which episodes of my favorite TV shows I had watched. So, I quit. I'm not making a big deal over it.

My husband is supportive. but it has taken him a while to stop enthusing about the flavors in the wine he is drinking. Once he understood that I was committed to my new relationship with wine (admiring it from afar but having zero desire to have another glass) he's become my biggest cheerleader. He has never had the issues I did with alcohol, but I do think my opting out has reduced his drinking as well, and that's a good thing for both of us.

Some people like to embrace an illness. "Oooh, my lumbago!" It gives them excuses not to do things they don't want to. We have martyrs to Crohn's Disease, arthritis, and COPD. They wear it like the Red Badge of Courage. I don't judge them so much as I don't want to be them. Alcohol for me is something I did that I don't do anymore, like ice skating. If that puts me in denial, so be it. The only thing that matters is that my way works for me. It doesn't have to work for anybody else.