Hey M2, I was just reading your avatar, and I thought it matched my own experience very closely. I had kind of got beyond not drinking. I was that befuddled I just wanted the misery to stop and I was willing to do anything to make that possible. I suppose I had the gift of desperation. AA likens it to the desperation of a drowning man clutching onto the life preserver. I don't know if there is a metaphor too extreme to illustrate the true desperation of the alcoholic who really wants to stop, but can't.
Your avatar remnded me what I did at the start of my recovery, and what was the focus of my mind. It wasn't on not drinking i.e. fighting the old. Not drinking is still about drinking and is really still an effort at control.
Instead I was head down focussed on building the new and, strangely enough, while I was doing that I didn't think much about drinking at all. I was still drawn to my old alcoholic life for a time, but the compulsion seemed to go away, and it never came back. My choice of recovery method was the last cab in the rank so to speak. Nothing else had worked and there was nothing more to try. So.. desperation of drowning man, did whatever was suggested, whether I understood it or not (understanding came later) and it worked.
If you are already into smart, perhaps bring that total desparation there and do everything that is suggested. Give it 110%. And build the new.