Need some encouragement

Other than a 2-month break way back in 2019, I’ve been a daily drinker for 15 years. I’ve slowed down over the years, and been at about 4 IPAs every evening for a few years now, plus some lunch beers on weekends. But always throw caution to the wind on vacation. I’ve had a love/hate relationship with drinking for a long time - love my evening beers, but hate the dependence, the hangovers, all the negative effects. I have an amazing wife, a great job, make a lot of money, travel, and often think the only bad thing in my life is this terrible habit that I’ve never had the strength to put down.

Spent 10 days in the Caribbean with my wife at the end of May and drank beer every day from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed. Got back home from the airport and immediately went into AFib. 200 bpm heart rate, spent 6 hours in the ED, and had to be shocked back into sinus rhythm.

Since then, I haven’t had a drink. I’m 17 days sober and have radically changed my life - I’m running every morning, in the gym 4 days a week, sleeping better, eating healthy, drinking plenty of water. I’ve finally gotten rid of the one bad thing in my life.

But I don’t feel the joy in it like I thought I would. I miss my nightly beers. I hate that (at least for the immediate future) I don’t even have the option to have ONE beer without risking a recurrence of the AFib. I think it’s mostly because I’m a creature of habit and my years-long habit has suddenly been disrupted and not by choice.

I think I just need a virtual splash of cold water. Remind me why this is awesome. Tell me all the great things that sobriety has brought you. Let me know how you moved past it once you put it down.