Originally Posted by
Threshold 
In order to be successful at ANYTHING in my life. I need to focus on what I can do, and what I want to do, rather than dilute my purpose focusing on everything I cannot do.
If I want to learn to knit, I won't get anywhere if I am thinking about how I am NOT crocheting, NOT making pizza, NOT fixing a car, NOT on a date with Brad Pitt, you see what I mean.
I can't get sober if I am focusing on NOT drinking, and spending too much energy on worrying over never drinking again, etc. It dilutes my energy and focus. When I did that I was just white knuckling it. It was lousy.
I even had to give up my mental chess game of whether or not I am an alcoholic, or "just" a problem drinker and all that. I wasted a LONG time distracting myself with that one. Once I decided to not drink...the argument was moot. I got on with life.
Today I exercise my right to live my life sober, to drink any of the several thousand beverage choices that are not in the liquor/beer/wine aisle. To drive any time of the day or night (cause I'm not drunk), to treat my friends and family with respect, the list of "can's" and "do's" goes on and on, much more interesting and diverse than that one little "don't".
Well put! And I know exactly what you mean by the mental chess game. I did that for years. But it was just a distraction. Utterly pointless. All I really needed to do was accept that I can't drink.
And that's a good thing, such a good thing....knowing that drinking is not an option has opened up my life to all the options drinking foreclosed. In the end it is not about "giving something up", it's about being truly free to live my life.