My longest sober period was six months and around six weeks it started to become routine to cope with a stressful day by running to the gym or the craft store or binge watching a comedy on netflix. But it just comes from consistently making the choice not to drink. Don't beat yourself up for wanting to, just resolve not to give in to it.. you have to condition your brain not to expect that every time you're stressed out you're not going to reward it with alcohol.. eventually it starts to expect a different reward. I don't know if that helps.
I'm sure people will tell me I have no idea what I'm talking about because I did relapse, but that is what I did when things were going well for me.