Originally Posted by
DriGuy 
How could alcohol push aside everything else, if you have not yet relapsed? Is it true what we often hear that the "relapse happens long before we take the first drink." If this is true, it seems like you are not taking steps early enough to prevent the relapse. You may need to be more vigilant and make vigilance part of your plan. You have the power to control this. You never have to take the first drink. That is always a choice, and you need to make that a habit. You do that by continually exercising your decision not to drink. That is how it felt to me when I found myself struggling against sobriety. Winning that struggle, makes the next struggle easier, until it becomes automatic.
Determination to quit ('will power') is important. However, making it sound so simple can lead people to believe that it is their own weakness that is the problem. How many times do we hear alcoholics dismissed as people who have no will power, self-control etc.? If it were as simple as that, there would not be so many of us around! We have to recognise that alcoholism is a physiological disease with a mixture of genetic and psychiatric causes. Making decisions and staying vigilant are important, but becoming an alcoholic and relapsing are not simply about those things.