Originally Posted by
pyjamarama 
40 days sober - but this isn't getting any easier.
Being free of alcohol doesn't seem to make anything better - only more miserable.
My wife seems perplexed that I don't want to go to the pub on a Saturday night, stand in a queue for 15 minutes to buy a (non-alcoholic) drink that I don't want (for a grossly inflated price), and then make conversation with a load of drunk people.
I seem to have become very boring....
Willpower still isn't the problem for me - it's the fundamental decision as to whether life is better without alcohol.
How long is it before I feel the benefits?
Since you're new to SR and have just started posting, I don't know much about you and your drinking beyond your age.
You are giving part of your answer in your post..."...it's the fundamental decision whether life is better without alcohol", yet you are not happy to "make conversation with a load of drunk people."
I am also 56 years old and a professional. The biggest challenge I face with sobriety is finding enrichment in my life to fill the time and energy that was devoted to drinking. I am a single parent with the last twenty years dedicated to working and raising a child. As drinking took over more and more of my life, I lost interest in so many things and have a limited social network. This all has to be rebuilt. At a time where most people are settled in their lives, I have to make major changes so that I do have a life.
Part of recovery is introspection. What do you want out of life and how do you intend to get there? Just being sober isn't going to magically change your life; its one piece of the puzzle that will help you to do other things that will in turn change your life.
Congrats on 40 days sober.