As someone who has struggled with these issues in the past, I’m just replying to let you know there are definitely others in the community that struggle with this.
Certainly not qualified to give you advice but what helped for me was:
1. Not worrying about staying sober “long-term” just removing it as “something I do”. I found I also was finding lame excuses so it helped to just think on a day-to-day basis that it just isn’t an option for me was the only way to not drink.
2. For myself, I found that most external resources were not very helpful since they all inevitably revolved around thinking about drinking and discussing drinking, they were not useful for me and didn’t assist me much, however many others find them helpful.
3. Actively removing myself from situations (bars, afterwork events etc) that heavily involve alcohol and replacing these with situations where alcohol was not helpful (playing complicated boardgames and fitness)
4. Trying my best to identify sources of significant stress and tension in my life and remove that stress. (this meant taking a pay cut in the end for a less stressful job as this was stress mostly through work)
As someone who has struggled with these issues in the past, I’m just replying to let you know there are definitely others in the community that struggle with this.
Certainly not qualified to give you advice but what helped for me was:
1. Not worrying about staying sober “long-term” just removing it as “something I do”. I found I also was finding lame excuses so it helped to just think on a day-to-day basis that it just isn’t an option for me was the only way to not drink.
2. For myself, I found that most external resources were not very helpful since they all inevitably revolved around thinking about drinking and discussing drinking, they were not useful for me and didn’t assist me much, however many others find them helpful.
3. Actively removing myself from situations (bars, afterwork events etc) that heavily involve alcohol and replacing these with situations where alcohol was not helpful (playing complicated boardgames and fitness)
4. Trying my best to identify sources of significant stress and tension in my life and remove that stress. (this meant taking a pay cut in the end for a less stressful job as this was stress mostly through work)