Justin Moore can pinpoint how his drinking went from something casual to something he could no longer control — and it happened gradually.

“A drink at 5:00 turned into 3:00 and noon. Then, before you know it, it’s all day, every day,” Moore recalled during a new appearance on Tracy Lawrence‘s TL’s Road House podcast.

The country singer says he went nearly 20 years without having an issue with alcohol. But eventually, drinking began taking up more of his time and energy, ultimately leading him to check himself into rehab earlier this year.

Justin Moore’s Drinking Became an All-Day Habit

Moore said he didn’t drink until he was 21 and had no problems with alcohol for years. “I didn’t drink until I was 21. Don’t ask me how or why. Almost 20 years, [I] never had any issue whatsoever,” he said.

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His drinking changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he was spending most of his time at home. “We were doing our podcast at the time and literally nothing else,” he explained. “Man, ‘Idle hands are the Devil’s workshop’ is a real thing.”

What started as a drink in the evening gradually moved earlier into the day.

A drink at 5:00 turned into 3:00 and noon. Then, before you know it, it’s all day, every day. [It was] not even really getting smashed, just constantly having a cocktail.

Moore Realized Drinking Was Taking Over His Life

Moore said he convinced himself he was still functioning normally, even as alcohol began affecting his career.

“It started affecting my life. Just like everybody else, you think, ‘Oh, nobody knows. I’m hiding this. I’m good. I’m functioning — high functioning,'” he said.

There were times when that became difficult to ignore, particularly when he watched footage of himself performing.

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“Once a month, I’d have a show. You try to get that mixture just right, and when you do, it’s great. But the times you don’t, you look back and go, ‘Ah, I don’t even want to see that video.'”

But it wasn’t just his career that was suffering. Moore eventually realized how much energy he was putting into drinking at the expense of his family and other parts of his life.

The last year, in particular, maybe two years, I just noticed I was putting so much energy into drinking and all that kind of stuff that it was taking away from not only my professionalism, but my family, most importantly, church, that kind of stuff.

That realization ultimately led Moore to seek help. One Sunday, he got home and told his wife he was going to rehab.

At the time of his conversation with Lawrence, Moore had been sober for 65 days and said he was finally feeling like himself again.

“I feel like myself for the first time in a while,” he said. “And I’m actually proud of myself for the first time in a while, which maybe sounds weird.”

For Moore, recognizing how much his drinking had taken over his life became the turning point.