It's not a day, it's ten minutes...
Having drank for twenty years, I'd never really considered what it would be like to stop. Something happened and I decided to stop. No, it wasn't 'rock-bottom', and it wasn't a DUI or slapping a loved one: It was a hemorrhoid. Figuring it came about as a result of a four-day bender, I stopped drinking. That was January 8th.
Since then, I have had impulses. Knowing they would go away in minutes, I would drink a glass of water, check my email, tender my resignation to my company, make a little wad of paper and throw it with my eyes closed, then look for the wad of paper. Anything that might last ten minutes. It seems to work. Also, inside my front door, I have hung a sign that's a Navy Seals' saying: Yesterday was easy.
I'm with you as far as AA goes: Having gone to but one meeting, it occurred to me that I didn't belong there. After listening to some heart-wrenching stories, I actually talked myself into a drink, then seven. I figured that I had plenty of time until I hit rock-bottom, so I might as well live it up until then.
More recently it's been, "The climb back to the top won't be as long..."