I think most people feel this way with alcohol. It lowers inhibitions and makes you act on whims or natural desire, where our normal self would 'draw a line' based on ego or how we wish to present ourselves; that mask. I don't believe there is anything necessarily wrong with alcohol in small quantities.
Like everything, it depends if you're using it, or it's using you, and that can surely be a fine line. Following a diet or gym routine is a terrific thing at face value, but there is that line, where the person could in fact become a slave to the gym and diet and no longer hold their power over the thing they wished to use to better themselves. So would that be a good or a bad thing now? The obsession. I view them as the same thing, really, as both can damage one's self, but in different ways. both could in-fact end in suicide. And have.
I think alcohol can show a person that it is in fact
you making things happen, and the alcohol is simply disabling an inherent doubt we all carry. It can offer insight and reflection on how you see yourself If you wish to take a look at what motivates you or perturbs you in your own life. It's not as though the alcohol concocts us to say or do things we never had thought of; it merely opens and lubricates us to take risks, have hard or flirty conversations. Biologically speaking, our neuropathways tighten up and we become much more outcome-focused and singular in our interactions, which is why we can foster results we otherwise wouldn't in a sober state. There are less competing thoughts in the peripheries of our own minds. Nagging doubts and self-conciousness.
If alcohol is a crutch and
you feel you
need it to socialize,
that's the issue. The
need. Like anything else in our lives, a dependency is what creates our own realms of chaos - women, gyms, aesthetic, sex, money, power, etc. The intent to everything is the key to our results and ultimately the reality in which we are attempting to forge and bring to fruition.
If you drink alcohol with the intent of "I want to open up and learn about myself", surely your night will turn our differently than it would if you uttered in your mind "I need this to go talk to a woman because I lack confidence".
Although not cheap, I've found Drambuie to be the best social drink. After two, you start feeling it and you can have several more ...without over doing it. I prefer mine chilled or in the form of a drink called a "Rusty Nail."
My Dad introduced this drink to me. It's great. This is a smooth sipper, which I find classy and refined, without the sharpness of a Scotch, if one is in the mood for a 'sweeter' drink. Although I do love a quality Scotch. My favorite drink by far is an Old Fashioned.