Towards the end of my drinking I couldn't last that long on my own, but the pattern was always the same. Stop drinking and my external world got better, turned up to work, felt better, ate some food, paid some bills- good progress you would think.
But pretty soon my internal world would start to fall apart and suddenly being sober was no fun, I was tense and anxious, couldn't get along with people, generally had trouble fitting in with the world, and then the pain of staying sober would exceed the benefits, so I would return to my old solution.
It wasn't until I found a way to treat that internal condition that I was able to manage permanent recovery.