How do I Identify a High-Functioning Drinking Problem?

While most retailers are recovering from the exhaustion of the most fiscally important time of their year, those who sell diet plans and gym memberships are just getting revved up. The transition from the way we live our lives during the holidays to the crushing reality of January can give us whiplash, for sure.

For us high-functioning alcoholics, January is the most important time of the year, too. The shame of holiday overindulgence and regret of festive alcohol-induced decisions is fresh is our minds.

If you are like me, or you know someone like me, the damage of holiday drinking is not outwardly apparent. Yes, the drinking was excessive, but everyone was partaking recklessly. The damage is on the inside — depression, anxiety and an unavoidable knowing that something has got to change.

So many Januaries of the past, I scoured the internet for the answers to my questions about my own relationship with alcohol. I found lots of online surveys designed to help me understand my alcoholic status. In many ways, those surveys gave me more confidence about the normalness of my drinking. The last five or ten questions were always about end-stage alcoholism: Do you shake uncontrollably when you go a few hours without alcohol? -and- Do you urinate in your sleep? — and- Do you experience hallucinations while…