boreas

I had to understand this before I could fully embrace sobriety. Sober I have much more peace than I ever got from the bottle, and there is no aftermath. But it took time to figure out those things that brought that sense of serenity, and time for my brain, body, and soul to adjust to healthy influences.
-bora

Evoo

Wonderful revelation.

Early in my recovery it did feel like a “fight” or tug-of-war with my AV. But once the AV was quieted, I started to see changes in my health. ability to manage anxiety, in motivation, in intellect, memory, finances…. everything… the positives were so overwhelmingly positive that I shifted my mindset much in the way you did. It’s a great and very freeing feeling. Congratulations

SnazzyDresser

Just being alive and conscious entails some degree of effort, and that's true for absolutely everyone including non-drinkers. "Keep fighting the good fight", as the saying goes. Sober for almost 6 years now, I'm perfectly happy to say I still fight every day to do the right thing, even when it's difficult. It's a doable thing I've found, meeting my basic duties and obligations, and there's a lot of help out there along the way if you know where to find it, like here on SR for instance!

MrPL

Hi kes,

Interesting question. I don’t see it as a fight, I see it as happily running away from the fight.

My point is that for a fight one plans a defence strategy. I have tried that many times, and alcohol won every single one.

In other words, if I even acknowledge there’s something like an AV to fight then I don’t think I stand a chance of wining.

So I ignore the fact that it s there. I don’t drink because of x,y or z, I just don’t drink, no drama, no romance (of course a bunch of other stuff happened to get me to that point, but that s how I see it practically).