I felt physically much better, but it took much longer to believe in my sobriety. Having made many previous attempts to stop - and had done so for a couple of years once - I watched my thinking very, very carefully for about three years. I still do so every day, but now in year 7 I am much more confident in my ability to handle different situations. Drinking alcohol is barely on my mental radar these days - just not something I would do. The fact that one drink would send my entire life spinning into chaos appears to finally have been burned into my brain. The legacy of my drinking is what seems to be permanent insomnia (maybe it will stop tomorrow, who knows) but I am happy to accept that over an alcoholic death!