Originally Posted by
FixItDad 
Thanks to all for the warm welcome.
Doggone....What's the difference? Either you're drinking or not, no?
I will definitely check those out. Thank you.
Welcome to SR! I apologize if I get this wrong but I think what doggone means is that while abstinence may seem more like restraint or punitive, sobriety is the opposite. When you embrace sobriety you decide to live a completely different life from how you lived previously. Your thinking changes. With sobriety, there's no chance (or very slim) that you'll 'rebel' and even think of, much less want to go back to drinking. It's a complete mind change and very freeing.