Hi, welcome back. So glad you made it (many dont).
Well, it might be worth reading back through those old threads. The advise and support you got then is still relevant, and you will be able to spot the suggestions that you were (at that time) unwilling to try for yourself. Hopefully, some of the things you rejected for some reason or another may be things you're willing to try now.
I would suggest reading about making a recovery plan, and making one that you can follow. It's one thing to stop drinking (abstain), but if we are going to manage life without that old crutch we do need to put new and better supports into place or we will wobble and fall.
This thread of Dees is a good one to get going....
https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums...y-plans-1.html (Psst...wanna know why I'm always recommending recovery plans?)
There are lots of other threads about recivery plans that are worth searching for and following.
Have you considered making use of the recovery support locally as well?
https://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org...Find-a-Meeting https://www.smartrecovery.org.uk/mee...ff/2018-08-27/ https://www.dewis.wales/SearchResult...+4uw&geo=&d=25
I would say that the most basic of plans could revolve around awareness of and planning around avoiding / getting rid of HALT triggers (Hungry Angry Lonely Tired). The Lonely one is esp important. I read somewhere that the opposite to addiction is connection. And this for me is where AA comes in. Not because I don't have great friends and family outside of AA, but to talk to them about a lot of stuff (drinking or not drinking, how it affects me, how to deal with my crazy feelings when not using drink to shut them off for some respite, etc) would just worry those people, and they're too invested in me for me to want to burden them with it, plus they are normies so just wouldnt really 'get it' anyway. So I go to AA and get to listen to others, and find out what works for them. I can be frank about how I'm feeling znd what im thinking with no risk of harming those i love. And I get to be a listening ear for others who need the same.
A lot of recovery is about changing our perspectives. We have to watch for wishful thinking and self-pity and resentments as these are likely to affect us pretty badly. Many folk make gratitude lists a part of their plan. There is a phone app called 365 gratitude that can be helpful for this.
Also, it's worth adjusting your routine. You know what your usual drinking pattern is. When you start thinking about the first drink for whichever day. When you 'drinking time' is. It's worth making some plans as to what you will do with this time rather than just sitting there feeling odd because you aren't drinking. Meetings, walks, joining clubs, resuming some old hobbies that went by the wayside when you discovered alcohol, volunteering... There are lots of possibilities.
I too started my sobriety by telling poeple I was just stopping for a short time (in my case Lent). It was useful in that it got people off my back and meant I could put off explaining that I was going to carry on not drinking because it felt so good. Trouble is, at the end of that period my old drinking buddies were all excited for me to join them for a big session (yes, I'd been hanging out at the pub drinking squash - I realky made it hard for myself because i thought that was my only option. That's where my friends were. That's where people knew me and expected me to be. I just didn't get it that if I wanted to change, things would need to change! Also, at the end of Lent, because I'd done nothing at all towards recovery, I was a jangling mess. I'd removed alcohol (my crutch from 15 to 40 - 25 years) and not looked for anything else to put in it's place. I was a raging hot mess and worried for my sanity. That was the point when I finally went to AA and found this place etc. Of course, I was saying "yeah, I'm stopping drinking because I feel soooo much better now" and anyone talking to me and looking at me could see through that bull straight away. Because we don't tend to get better that quickly. Hopefully if you put some support and have a recovery plan you can avoid getting so uncomfortable as I made it for myself,but there will still be some times when it doesn't feel so good - but that WILL pass if you keep working on your recovery.
Wishing you all the best for your sobriety and recovery.
BB