Hi skroom
If I had a how to manual I'd publish it.
But it'd be pretty short
1. don't drink/use
2. use whatever support and tools are available to you to keep true to #1.
I found SR is a great support. There's nearly always someone around. Try to reach out before you find yourself driving to the liquor store.
Face to face support works well like that for most of the folk here too - there's always numbers to call and things like that. Don't wait til Friday to hit a meeting if you think you need support before then.
Cravings aren't fun but you can ride them out - apart from calling reinforcements, I remember I kept busy, kept active...some of us ate sweets, brushed our teeth...whatever works...
I also found it useful to 'play the tape through'...I'm an alcoholic so I'd think about where that first drink took me in the past and where it's likely to take me now.
I read a lot of my old posts too, and other peoples, to help keep me focused....
and make sure you're not simply reacting to other stuff when you feel a craving - the AAers have an acronym HALT (hungry, angry, lonely, and tired)...these can often be triggers - so try and avoid all four as much as possible.
and...stay in the day. We can't do anything about tomorrow, or yesterday for that matter.
All you have to worry about - all you should worry about - is today.
These are some of the tangible things that worked for me in early recovery, skroom.
I guess what I had most of all was a real desire to change - if you have that too, you're well on your way
D