Wow, I really enjoy this thread.
I started drinking in high school and it got to heavy pretty fast. So I don't really have a before I was drinking to compare adult life to.
While everyone else seemed to be loving early sobriety
"I feel so much better without alcohol, don't you?"
"No."
I felt like it was a real grind. For me it took hard work to start finding what I enjoyed and even then a lot of the time I just did it because I knew logically I should enjoy it even though I wasn't feeling it.
My "research" (obsessive googling) lead me to reading about dysphoria in early sobriety and dopamine receptors. It turns out that we addicts have messed them up so much it takes a while for them to start functioning even close to normal again. So I accepted this and went through the motions.
All of the suggestions here are great. I do think it is important to make sure you are growing in ways that are important and will pay dividends but for me it also just took time away from alcohol. Everyday I feel a little bit better. I'm still in a funk a lot but I'll take it over where I was just a few months ago.
So for now I'm ok with cutting wood, carrying water and every so often getting a chance to laugh.
Keep it up BMac you are doing great and it does get better. As you grow and your brain/body heal, it gets better.