Welcome Cadillac,
I drank for almost the same amount of time as you. I did squeeze In a sober stretch of seven years long ago. I did get sober again with the help of SR. In hindsight I think I would have been better off with rehab and SR. I think professional help would have made things easier in the first few months. It can be done, it took a bunch of work and I had to block out many aspects of my life to focus and dedicate my energy to sobriety. I wish you luck. I found coming here and posting or reading helped me so much. You can do it.