A few thoughts come to mind. I gave up cigarettes once for a few months and then started back mainly because I didn't think I felt any better. I hadn't noticed the incremental improvements is all. Within a week of starting I sure felt worse.
If alcohol is the problem, then stopping drinking should fix everything. But if alcoholism is the problem, then stopping drinking will likely bring it out worse unless a good plan of action is in place. Alcohol comes in bottles, alcoholism comes in people.
An earlier poster spoke about the AA promises. Strange as it may seem they all came to pass for me at pretty much the same pace I worked the steps. When I took step two the step two promises kicked in, same with three, and so on. Particularly profound where the fifth step promises, an accurate description of what I was feelng immediately after taking that step. All of these things are miracles to me.
It is strange how the big book took on a completely new meaning post-steps. Prior to the steps I missed all those promiss, they meant nothing as they were all about things that were beyond my experience and understanding. Just words. Yet now they are facts about my life.
None of that has made me immune from life, but I have undergone a miraculous change in my reaction to life. It has nothing to do with chosing not to drink, it is that it never occurs to me to drink no matter what life has thrown at me. That's the miracle.