One year! What a milestone. I'll bet that a year ago, it seemed like a pipe dream, but then it happens. You saw it coming, but still when that day comes, it seems like a miracle, even though you know that if was your commitment and work that got you there. That first year, I fed on the simple gratification of the uniqueness of sobriety. We often talk about all the other good things that follow, and add that, "You can't just put the plug in the jug," but just "putting the plug in the jug" can be extremely gratifying, and that still holds true for me 24 years later.
But what about all that other stuff than needs to happen to stay sober? I don't know. Some things that made life better do require some effort, but I can't imagine that fumbling at those things would be enough to send a person back to the misery of drinking. I fumbled a lot, and still do, but drinking again was never a serious thought. Even as drunks, we knew we had to change some other things about our lives. Sobriety allows us to do those things, not so much that we have to do them to stay sober. I could be wrong, but that's how I perceive the sober life.
Some of these other issues take a long time, and you never finish, but you get better as time goes by, and each little step forward is a reward along the way. Even today, I find occasional set backs, stresses, and hair tearing episodes that require some solutions that I can handle more gracefully than I did before, and I think to myself with satisfaction, "I never could have pulled that off 25 years ago." And I have to credit sobriety for that. Watching a drunk trying to solve problems is a rather pitiful experience. They struggle or throw in the towel. They seem to work with limited options.