55, that is an interesting question. I am similar to you in the sense that I have not had my world crumble recently as a result of my drinking behavior. Times were worse in the past. I was trying to describe this the other day on a different thread somewhere. It didn't "just happen," but it wasn't a huge dramatic event that prompted me to see the light. I was in the process of making changes for myself in other ways, like work and my outlook on things....I needed a challenge and to feel alive and scared and lucky again. So quitting alcohol got put at the top of the list; I tried stopping; and then the days just went by. One of the reasons I wound up in here in the first place was my curiosity (sort of like yours) about what had been happening to me, HOW DID I DO IT (it was kind of surreal and I checked my bank records multiple times to make sure I was not deluding myself on the last time I bought alcohol)...and I also wound up here because I wondered what wasin store for me physically and in how my vanity might benefit (will my face look like a rodeo used it for much longer, etc). Then I just got dialoguing with people and the rest of that is history.
I am only going to have 5 months in a couple of days, so I am not exactly Confucious about alcoholism and recovery. But from my perspective today, I would say that there is a range of experiences and many of us touch on those at different points in our drinking history, and then there are differences too. We aren't alone in our experience of not having been absolute rock bottom, maybe we were just mentally drained; whatever the case may be. Doesn't mean we are not able to see resemblances with other people or exchange in a productive way. I guess the recovery is progressive in some ways for me, but then again, I am not all that different from any other time (I've always had confidence problems and going up and down the scale with it).
As far as not drinking goes, I would define a struggle as either going back to it outright or putting my shoes on and getting ready to buy some - for ME. I haven't come close to that. Smoking was a different story; I put the jacket on in the evening and marched to the store and &)^#&* bought cigarettes. I have had thoughts enter my mind though. Not in the sense of "I guess I can handle this, it won't hurt to go back." A different kind of cunning thought that I can't put into a sentence. Sometimes it's the nice weather and sometimes it is something that annoys me or makes me worry. Alcohol is a remembered substance asociated with manufactured, induced comfort. But it's a fake one and a fake solution.
Up to you how you use the site. I just roam wherever and sometimes I get more involved than others. Sometimes I even come back and scrounge through pages wondering if so-and-so came back. Other times I let it go, because I can only do so much. The beauty of the site is not that different from alcoholism and life, in that you can find a common ground with just about anyone when you let yourself - at least when you're having good moments. I would say to keep checking around both inside and outside the site.
Hope it keeps going well for you.