hey dude. good for you. those first few months can be really hard, but if you can ride the PMA, the first year, for me anyways, wasn't the hardest. It was years 2 and 3 that were harder, but worry on that when you get there! It's important to stay where you are in the now. I'm not a meeting guy, no NA or AA, and my family is a bunch of alkies so I couldn't count on them for support, but staying busy with new stuff was incredibly helpful for me. I wrote about it a lot at first too.
I stopped drinking like 5.5 years ago and it's been a net positive, for sure. When I stopped, I was drinking 6-10 IPAs at least 5 days per week at home, solo. Most of the time it was heady beer to start at home then I'd be at the bar to end the night with PBRs and a few whiskey shots. Then throw in the nights with dates or chilling with people from work and it was turning out to be a fat amount of money and even more time and health than I could handle. When I quit, it was initially with the goal of a month. I was in Maine, drinking bloody Maria's one Sunday, and I realized it wasn't getting me drunk- going from sober to either angry or brown out was becoming a pattern and I just decided to dry out for a spell. it was right before I was going to work on a new farm and the dudes I was working with were ripping drunks who started bright and early. After a few months I decided to keep with it when I saw how profitable it was. If you can stay above water, accountability is minimal when you work for yourself/independent contractor, so I kind of knew that it was a necessity to maintain the freedom of doing pretty much whatever I wanted. Cut out the booze and the blow went away, no more cigs, etc. I might not be the most knowledgable worker, but I'm offered work all the time because I don't drink or get fucked up. Stopping drinking is really, really one of the best things I've done. Fuck, no more driving home or just around when I shouldn't be, no more shady plays with fucking losers, no more cigarette hangovers. Damn. Hell ya.
Keep it up G, not tryna steal your glory. stay safe man!