As someone who has endured my fair share of adversity in life, in a way I'm always "ready for a fight." I have a mild form of PTSD from the things I've been through and, despite having the most positive outlook about my future that I've had in many years, there's still that part of me that is just waiting for things to go bad again. So I don't feel like I'm fighting every day, but there's definitely a part of me that sees life as a kind of ongoing war to be fought. There are times of peace, but there will come times when I must be ready to go to battle.
I feel as secure in my sobriety as I've ever felt at 10 months, but I still get those random, out-of-nowhere AV strikes. And I remind myself every day that I must be ready for them. So I view sobriety (for now at least) as needing to stay several steps ahead of my enemy at all times. I need to remain vigilant, stay prepared, think strategically, and at times improvise on the spot in order to prevent my addiction from ever getting the upper hand again.
Although I doubt that I will use this mindset long-term, for now it works for me. I don't find it tiresome or exhausting, and it has kept me sober for longer than I have ever been able to before.