I did not mention the most mundane part, which was definitely the most challenging for me in early sobriety. The intense and frequent alcohol cravings I had for many months after quitting, both around my first quit and after a relapse following ~2 years sober. I am often amazed learning that some of us do not experience cravings (or obsessive impulses, call it whatever) at all or only mild ones after getting sober - it was definitely not my experience. But I have other obsessional tendencies as well so probably not surprising that I struggled with this quite a bit. The momentary cravings were pretty much why getting sober was hard in the first place (I did not miss anything from the lifestyle and am normally not bad at self-regulating my emotions at all) - I really needed to learn how to manage them and not give in to the strong impulses for the high. The funny thing is that I am not an impulsive person at all sober, it was really the effect of alcohol and it took a while to dissipate. No amount of self-awareness, involvement in recovery, connection to other people or abstract things made that go away for me, only time and patient discipline. I think it's a physiological mechanism. If nothing else, the memory of those cravings and obsession is a very potent element that makes even a vague possibility of another relapse highly, highly aversive. I don't focus on that or live in fear at all but it's something I cannot and probably will not forget.