welp, my experience is only through AA and seeing it there. there have been different reasons i have heard for drinking again after years of sobriety. two things that seem to have been pretty common for those that made it back are
1) i used it as a reason but it was really an excuse because
2) i started playing God.
i have also heard that people had forgotten the misery that drinking brought them.
for me, i was about 3 years or so in and was in full blown relapse mode( IMO, relapse starts with my thinkin and ends with a drink). i had a few poeple tell me i was in relapse mode but would this egomaniac admit it???noooooo!
i went like that for about 3 months. went to meetings about 5 times/week. then one day, when i was having a pretty good bout of anger, i said to myself,"f it! im gonna go get a 12 pack!" in my mind i was beyond a drink.
i thuroughly believe it was devine intervention that had me take a shower before i was off to the store and thats when i saw what was happening. it wasnt only the thought of getting drunk i was seein, it was the 3 months worth of thinkkn that led me to that thought. i was goin to meetings and helping others when i could, but that was it. i was complacent with what i had. i wasnt doing anything to grow more mentally, emotionally, or spiritually.