I spent eleven years doing the work of Alcoholics Anonymous to stay sober. Like I can do anything to stay sober. What happened was spiritual burn-out, exhaustion, and crash and burn. If I look at this as something I "have to do to stay sober," or as a chore, that is what happens. I hate chores, they make tired. That is why true service work is the result of recovery and not the other around as well.
Now I don't this stay sober, I do it because I am sober. If anything, doing this brings me to a deeper awareness of what got me sober and keeps me sober.
Jim