eek - I just replied to the question and it hasn't posted - brrr.
I gave up because:
I was an alcoholic - always thining about the next drink, unable to cope without it, never passing up an opportunity and I knew that was a one-way ticket
It made me depressed and emotional
Money
It made my skin bad
It interfered with my running as I was not fit
It made me feel ill
It encouraged me to waste too much time with the wrong people
It affected my perceptions of things
Now I am weller and fitter. I will always have depression because that is me, but drinking made it so much worse. I never regret what I have done. I still have overwhelming cravings but, in some ways, being diagnosed as a coeliac in 2003 has helped because now there are so many things I can't have. Life is a constant state of denial!