Lucy Hale feels "deeply grateful" as she celebrates three years of sobriety

In a post on Instagram, she explained: "Damn. 3 years ago today, I began my journey in remembering who I am. Since then, I've experienced moments that can only be described as pure miracles and magic.

"I am deeply grateful every day - for the people who have been guiding lights, for a power greater than myself that loves me unconditionally, and for my own perseverance in not giving up."

She went on to tell her followers: "To all of you who have supported my journey, I have felt your love and it means everything to me.

"If you are struggling or walking a similar path, keep going. Just keep going. You are not alone and the world needs you."

Lucy previously admitted she first turned to alcohol as a teenager because she felt "alone and misunderstood" and wanted to quit many times but suffered numerous relapses before finally getting sober.

She told PEOPLE: "Since a very young age, I always felt alone and misunderstood. So as a teenager, I found alcohol - which of course shut my brain off. And it worked for me for a while, until it turned really dark ...

"I always had a desire to change, but with any form of addiction, you become powerless to this obsession. I definitely had to go through my own process of getting sober.

"It took many, many, many years, many relapses, many dark moments, many falling on my face quite literally, but figuratively as well to figure out what was working in my life, finding out why I was drinking, because removing alcohol is just one part of it."

Lucy went on to insist having a creative career in acting probably saved her life.

She added: "If I'm perfectly honest, without my career and without that creative outlet, I don't know if I would've made it."