Hi Krete. It does sound like you've been doing a lot of thinking and that's awesome. Great job on tackling the alcohol part. Since you mentioned weed, I'll tell you some of my observations from my journey, not that I assume yours will be similar (I'm not an all or nothing person).
I'm only on day 21 no weed (after 22 years daily use) and I don't really feel THAT different. I felt crazy and awful going through withdrawals but once they were gone I felt almost normal again. For me normal is a great thing. I was so terrified that I would change into some strange tweaky manic sober square person and that life would become something I had no road map for. I kept asking "what the eff do those strange sober people DO all day anyway???"
But surprisingly my familiar world is still here (my world was already pretty good on the outside). I would still say I feel a lot better now. As in, I have WAY less anxiety (although during withdrawal had anxiety attacks). I feel in control. No more hiding it. I feel free, like I pried the claws of clingy addiction out of my back. I do have some super on top of the world moments but those come and go.
Feeling kind of the same now makes me wonder why I felt I needed pot. If I can feel like myself but better without pot, what was I getting from it? In the end all I was getting from it was withdrawal prevention. It's early days but I am SO glad I kept at it through the hard part.