Originally Posted by
Alphabet 
I can't speak for myself as I have under a year as of today, but the common theme for people who go "back out" is that they got complacent. They stopped putting in the work (and staying sober IS work), they stopped being honest with themselves, they didn't hold themselves accountable, etc.
As for thinking that far ahead, though, my advice is to treat it the same as drinking - don't do it. The saying "one day at a time" is popular for a very real reason, and that's because the thought of doing this forever can become daunting, and cause needless stress. Vow to not drink today. Then be sure to make the same promise tomorrow, and so on. We only have today to tackle this, so do the absolute best you can to fight this thing today, one day at a time.
Well, I don't fight, I don't do one day at a time, I don't stress, I don't white knuckle. I DON'T find the thought of 'doing this forever' daunting - simply because the technique I chose to stop drinking, involved the Big Plan pledge that 'I will NEVER drink again, and I will NEVER change my mind. I don't have the stress of 'battling' one day at a time. As far as I'm concerned, the 'battle' is over and I've won, higher pre-frontal cortex has trounced lower/ mid- brain! Easy once you learn the technique.
The technique is RR/AVRT which is demonstrated in Secular Connections on this forum. Its as old as the hills, for instance Buddhism, popular folklore etc., knew about it eons ago.