Originally Posted by
Purpleman 
“To this day, I am amazed at how many of my problems - most of which had nothing to do with drinking, I believed - have become manageable or have simply disappeared since I quit drinking.”
I had that insight early on in recovery too. I searched and searched for some childhood repression, or some psychological quirk that was behind my drinking, but to no avail. There was no problem I could find buried deep in my past that warranted turning to alcohol.
Basically what I discovered is that I had no problems that caused me to drink, but that my drinking was the issue causing me problems. But I had to stop before I recognized that.
This may not be true of everyone. I've heard that Post Traumatic Stress can cause people to drink, and can easily believe that. But my problem was that a dangerous addictive chemical substance had taken over my life. The problem was much more simple than I imagined. The cure was simpler too; Just stop drinking. Sure go ahead and change other things in you life too, and that too becomes easier when you take alcohol out of the picture.
And as you pointed out, many of those things just disappear without having to force them or to take any further action. Yes, quitting was a white knuckle endeavor, but only for a short while.