Hi all,
Hope you had a good trip back Amp. I am going to try to answer your question from my standpoint. As I see it, right now I have a real choice whether to drink or not. That choice didn't exist 3 months ago, so in that sense I am in a completely different place. Each day I choose not to drink, and each day the choice is exercised having regard to slightly different factors, and some days the choice is tougher than others. But as I see it no one is making me either drink or not drink. Most days the choice is by now of course a relatively easy one, but it is a real choice. How is it different from before I stopped drinking? The answer is that my decision making was affected by my physical or psychological addiction (how you define it doesn't matter), so I wasn't really making a choice. Now I see it for what it is.
Is it a real choice if you have decided never to drink again? Well I haven't decided that, and probably never will. When I stopped smoking (a long time ago) I didn't decide then, no more ever, but I now don't really make a choice any more in the sense that no one ever offers me a cigarette and I never think about going to buy any.
This probably does not fit into any accepted theory but that's how I see things. Occasionally I need to remind myself what is at stake when I exercise my choice, but with diminishing frequency. In real terms, I certainly haven't chosen to give up anything. If anything, I have chosen to reacquire my life and those I love.
Best wishes
OMD