Massive congratulations to you! I'm a beginner and don't have any wisdom/inspiration to share but I found encouragement in your words today - especially the concept that you found things getting better as time went by.
"Months 1-6 were a nightmare. I didn't have physical addiction. I had mental addiction. Stress drinker. It is terrible for both types. These are the hardest months, everyone. If you are out there still in these early days, HANG IN THERE. It gets better, I promise. And IT IS WORTH IT. Even though it doesn't feel like it at the time. "
(sorry to take up space here, just wanted to type out loud somewhere. I think the penny is slowly dropping that after several attempts at drinking in moderation and then episodes of binge drinking with maintenance of a few drinks most days in between it would make a great deal of sense if I were to shift to not drinking alcohol again - which feels quite an intimidatingly large challenge sometimes. So just taking smaller steps for now...today was tough - had a solid 30mins of really wanting a drink - postponed mostly because I was out for a long walk and then I'm a little bit proud of the fact I chose to distract myself with a pint of B&Js cookie dough ice cream from the corner shop rather than booze. Anyway, if I could flick a switch and choose the future train tracks in my life that did not feature alcohol I think this would be a sensible choice. But there's a time interval here where I'm forgetting some of the reasons why being drunk does not fit with me and yet sobriety is still unfamiliar and it still seems like an almost credible mirage of an option - just to have a couple of sensible drinks and stop right there. Which, after as much careful experimentation as I can manage is simply not true for me. I also drank to cope with anxiety and today I just felt like a break from ruminating on life events that wasn't helpful. Today I distracted myself with noticing how beautiful the leaves rustling in a breeze were. And ice cream. Keep on keeping on everyone. All the best)