Yes, my experience suggests quality of life is not directly coorelated with abstaining, although certainly life can improve initially, respective of a persons cicumstances. All to often I have witnessed myself and others quit on hopes and conditions of an improvement of my happiness, good fortune, relationships, etc. Epic fail. Although my particular drunkeness certainly and absolutely took away and otherwised frigged up my happiness, good fortune, and relationships, quitting alone did nothing to improve my standing. My changing how I thought and how I lived is what brought me the life enhancements I desired, has been my experience.

What did happen was my vastly increased freedom to make better choices, be totally more responsible for those choices, take good advantage of honest opportunities, and so on. My relationships improved because I became much more sentient and cooperative, more of a team-player in the human race, lol. I'm still very much an individual, kinda on the edges I suppose, but nothing like I was. Living life without human love and compassion was killing me. Getting back into the game is certainly a life saving journey. :)

My entire psyche was eventually transformed and renewed over a 2yr period from my original abstaining. This practical revolution of my life is what brought me my improved life enhancements, not simply quitting booze. Nonetheless, it goes without saying, that quitting booze kicked off the best years of my life, and this continues to be true.

I've endured many hardships since quitting, of course, since life happens as it does, both for the drinker, and the non-drinker. Since my last quit was declared without circumstantial conditions whatsoever -- I will never ever drink again -- my changing life fortunes post sans-alcohol did not threaten my abstaining. If anything, my abstaining only got deeper and stronger as I successfully worked through my trials and challenges. :)

Thanks for your post, Dalek.

I agree, quitting does not ensure happiness. Then again, what does? It did clear the way for me to take the steps needed to improve the quality of my life. Of course, those efforts could come to nothing. Happiness is so fragile, so contingent. I'm human, I can and will make mistakes. Bad things can and will happen to me—things over which I have no control.

The only thing I can control is how I respond to the world around me. And because I'm not drinking, I can at least deal with people and situations in an honorable way. Honor is so underrated, especially compared to happiness. Nothing can take honor away from me unless I let it. That's something I like to think I recovered as a direct result of quitting.

This rings loudly for me, ReadyandAble. I mention this personal truth often on the other forums, that this was the first benefit from making my decision to never drink again, my Big Plan. I didn't have to feel dishonorable anymore - whatever I had to deal with, I was going to do it sober and with honor. That feeling of relief, I guess some would call it the effect of committing to abstinence, was immediate.

Good stuff, ReadyAndAble and FreshStart57. Honor is rarely talked about in the context of addiction recovery, but "dishonorable" would certainly be one very accurate way to describe my behaviour in active addiction.