As others have noted...this is really a truly helpful thread. For me it seem that sobriety is about progress in life (not puppies and rainbows and some constant state of glee). I am suddenly reminded of the first couple weeks of my last sobriety where I realized "holy cow...my life is a mess, I want to crawl buck under the drunk rock!!". I slowly started to put stuff together and find...progress. By 4 months (which felt like a good gob of time...it did..ahahahahahaha), I think I sort of thought I had "been delivered" and this was sobriety and it was kind of dull and I was sick of recovery blah blah blah. I just wanted to be "normal" and have a glass or two of wine now and again...(again...ahahahahaha). How much progress does a person think they have actually made in 4 months?? Things is I had..quite a bit actually...but obviously nothing in comparison to what I could have achieved in say 5 years of sobriety. But even then...5 years down the road I'm guessing I would not be doing a happy dance full of self achievement...life would just be life I guess.
It is only when you go back in and then find yourself back into stagnation, denial..avoidance of life's responsibilities that you realize...drinking is spinning wheels in mud if it's something you love/need/want/are addicted to...
And for me even if its a few glasses of wine a day (and the occasional trough)...somehow it can control your life...ease the restless energy where you find productivity and growth.
Life can be very difficult...drunk or sober...but in the latter, you actually learn how to handle it rather than ignore it.