Man, I sooooo get this, Patcha.
I felt this way for a long time after getting sober. Someone gave me some great advice, not even in the context of sobriety—rather, he was talking about getting through the long and miserable gray Ohio winters—but it still very much applied to early recovery, so I stole it. He said, “Make sure you have at least one thing to look forward to every single day.” It could be something tiny, something inconsequential— just something.
So… I literally scheduled my One Thing. At night I would ask myself what thing I could look forward to. A call with my Mom… a long run… a good show or book… a nap… a walk with a friend…I’m a homebody too, so sometimes it One Thing was an insistence on a guilt-free pass if I didn’t leave the house. Sometimes it was as simple as a fancy latte.
I truly believe that if you stack up a bunch of One Things, you’ll forget why you needed to plan for them because there will be Many Things. Many SOBER things.