DriGuy

You are doing what people have suggested to deal with the after work trigger by finding something to do that is the direct opposite of taking a drink. Stick with it. More importantly, you identified one of your triggers on your own, and sought ways to deal with it. Trigger identification and strategies to deal with each trigger, played a major role in my own RECOVERY PLAN. SR stresses making a plan, and Dee or Anna can provide links on how to make a plan. I quit years ago, and was never provided with this advice, but I came up with a plan of my own in an intuitive and desperate need to fix myself, so I recognize how important planning is when I hear it stressed in SR.

It's too easy for the beginner to recognize that he "wants to quit drinking" and think that this is enough. But that goal is only part of a plan, because it lacks the critical strategies that determine how to achieve that goal. Plans are malleable. If a strategy fails, you can change it. In my case, the change was always in a more draconian zero tolerance direction. I found I had to squeeze out those "minor exceptions" to my abstinence plan, that would open the door to a drink. These "minor exceptions" come from your AV, the Addictive Voice in your head that nudges you toward thinking that just one little slip can't hurt. If you haven't heard about the AV, learn about it from the book on Rational Recovery. Hang out here long enough, and you will get the idea.

If I'm telling you things you already know, I apologize. I don't know you well enough to know where you are at, or how long you have been struggling. How long have you been at this?