Hey, I know this is late, and I'm an outsider, but I decided to toss in my 2¢. This sub got linked somewhere else and I decided to peek in out of curiosity. So I apologize if this is intrusive or unwanted, but something that you had said really struck a chord and resonated with me.
You asked if it is possible to be happy while sober, even if you have never had a history of being able to do so in your life. I believe that the answer is yes, it just might take a little time, and some readjustments of the mindset.
About 8-10 years ago, I was in a similar spot, asking myself the exact same question. I had drank a lot during college and directly afterwards, and I had smoked weed all throughout high school and college. I stopped smoking weed immediately after I graduated college. I had started looking for a job, and once I noticed that many of them drug tested, I stopped immediately because weed takes up to a month to get out of your system if you use it heavily. I still continued to drink though. However, after getting my second DUI, and when I realized WHY my hand was shaking so much during lunch that I couldn't even eat soup (something that I had always brushed off as being nothing) I knew that this was getting serious and that I needed to stop drinking.
But, like you, I questioned whether I would even be able to be to be happy living completely sober, because I had been smoking pot and or drinking since I was 14, was depressed as a child, and didn't know how to live my life any other way because that was the only life I knew. The life I had had before that was that of a child, and was not comparable. In fact, I remember laying on my couch, drinking, and lamenting to my friend this exact thing that you are lamenting about now, which is why your post really struck a chord with me.
Part of the problem was that I was used to a state / level / definition of ”happy and fun” that involved high levels of stimulation (& dopamine / seratonin, etc) only achievable by alcohol or drugs. My Baseline level for those things was already super high compared to a normal person because of the alcohol et alia.
However, I found that once I went for a while without those things, my baseline levels returned (/ got set for the first time) to "normal" and I was able to enjoy little things in life like watching a movie, having a nice meal, or receiving a compliment.
And I found that once my Baseline levels of stimulation were normal, those things were enough to make me happy. I no longer needed or expected to have a giant unicorn shitting out rainbows of gold and strippers to make me happy. I realized that that was never going to happen, so I learned to be happy with the little positive experiences that DID happen in my life, and THOSE made me happy.
So, I don't know, from my perspective it definitely is possible, it just takes a little while to get used to and you have to change your mindset a little bit. That was just what happens to me and I'm just offering my own experience to you for some perspective. I hope that maybe it helps in some way. If not, then I guess I am sorry to have wasted your internet time.
P.S. it's sort of like that hedonic treadmill idea. People who win the lottery are happy at first, but then they just get used to it, likewise people who get fired or something are sad at first, but then they just get used to it. You've gotten used to the happiness that alcohol provides, so it would take something much more than that to make you happy. However, if you go without alcohol you will get used to the states of your minds being without it, and then little things will bring you Joy.