Hi, Celia:
A lot of wisdom in this thread. I agree that when it comes down to it, it is up to us if we drink or don't drink. We have to make a conscious choice on a daily basis. Some days that choice is easy. Other days it is unbelievably difficult.
For me, this site has been vital to my recovery, in part because, frankly, what I thought I knew about my binge drinking and what I was doing to try to mitigate it just wasn't working. I needed to learn from the wisdom and experience of others and have folks I could check in with to check myself. But everyone is different. One interesting precept I've heard about recovery is that in the early days if it feels a bit weird or discombobulating, that might be a sign that it is what we actually need to do. That is, as drinkers, our sense of what is the right thing to do--what feels "natural"--is probably our AV talking.