The world opened up to me in ways I never knew after I put down the drink, Troy.
What worked for me was getting myself together in sobriety first and the many lessons I learned from doing so, for more than a year, in order to prepare for a life that, although it seemed very new to me, was what I needed all along. As though it were a life I adopted from reminiscence rather than from change, even though change was what I needed. I was "remembering" what it was to live a good life, a good life that I'd never had.
This process remains a difficult thing for me to describe, like describing what chocolate tastes like to someone who's never had it, but where I am makes me feel as though I'm exactly where I need to be. This doesn't close the door on anything for me, but instead leaves me open to new possibilities and the challenges that life brings.
You can't teach trust like you can teach math or science, but all you need in the beginning is a little bit of trust to get yourself going. By the time I'd finished destroying myself, I had absolutely nothing to lose by putting faith in the (to me) crazy idea that I could live a good life without alcohol.