For me, as soon as I took alcohol out of the equation, my life improved pretty much by itself. There was no work involved. I sometimes catch myself questioning those sorts of posts too - am I just a dry drunk? Am I not yet 'recovered'? Is being sober alone not enough? I don't know the answer to those questions, but what I do know is that as soon as I stopped drinking, my life improved dramatically. I know that people say that unless you deal with the issues that drove you to drunk, you are just a relapse waiting to happen, but I definitely don't agree with that. For me, I drank because I was depressed, which in turn made me more depressed. As soon as I stopped drinking my depression lifted. To be honest, I think if I started looking deeper into myself and work through all my past problems, I'd be in a worse state... I don't think it would be beneficial for me. What's beneficial for me is living in the present, rather than burdening my now with all the bad things that have happened previously. I find no sense in that.