Good morning, Undies!
I had a small epiphany about my recovery last night. For me it's not only about vigilance and working through the cravings. What I believe is making the really big difference now is the work I've been doing on myself. I was at dinner last night with a bunch of people drinking. It barely registered. Recently I had some stuff happen that was discouraging yet when I had a very brief drinking thought, I immediately thought "that would only make it worse".
By working on my issues, over time my brain seems to have accepted the fact that drinking doesn't solve any problems and I'm gradually developing the ability to deal with problems head on instead of escaping. Now I'm finding that I no longer want to escape. So the work I've been doing is leading to fundamental changes in how I think about and respond to events and thoughts. Awesome!