Welcome, Grok!
Everyone has to find their own path to sobriety, but AVRT helped me a lot. You can Google it since I can't link to it here.
You're right, it's the first drink that's the killer. I spent 25 years drinking, and the last few were the worst. Literally drunk every night, 365 days a year for years. But now I haven't had a drink in 7 months and I don't miss it a bit. That's mind boggling! I didn't think I could live, or would want to live, without drinking. It just goes to show you anyone can do it!