Am I an alcoholic?

I’ll preface this post by mentioning that I have pretty bad anxiety and overthink most things in my life. My latest fixation has been my alcohol consumption due to a few people I know passing away from bad livers in relation to their drinking habits.

I grew up in a household with zero alcohol whatsoever, so when I started drinking around 18 I really had no idea how to drink responsibly and when fucking wild. Not partying necessarily but just drinking so much, all the time, alone or socially. Now I’m 28 and drink almost everyday. I don’t get drunk per se, mostly because my tolerance has grown, but I usually have 3-6 drinks at least 5 days, if not more, out of the week. It eases my anxiety and helps me relax, though I’m sure it’s actually exacerbating my anxiety in the long run.

Anyway, it’s been this way for 5 or so years now and only recently have I recognized it to be problematic. I’ve been trying for over a month now to do a one week cleanse from alcohol, but I haven’t been able to get past day 3. I don’t feel like an alcoholic because I’m not having any serious side effects, but why is it so hard for me to avoid? I want to drink more responsibly I guess but at this point I don’t know if that’s possible, do I need to just stop altogether?