7 Months Sober.

I haven't drank in 7 months. In fact the urges are almost entirely gone.

That's great @Unenthusiastic.

Congrats on a job well done!

Great stuff. You should rightly be proud of yourself.

Proud of you and you can be proud of yourself

That is very good, and nicely done on your part.

What's more is that I've developed a legitimate innate disinclination towards drinking which persists across a wide breadth of mental states.

You shouldn't relax. Sustained resistance to alcohol appears after 1.5 years of abstinence. From my experience.
But in reality, it depends on many factors. For example, how long you were addicted.
However, 7 months is already very good, congratulations!

This is true.

Imagine finding a place to live across the road from an alcohol store.

@Gard and @Unenthusiastic I used to drink very heavily and often, you could say alcoholic, definitely binge drinking to point of blackout more days than not. I now generally have a huge disinclination to drink - I can walk down the alcohol aisle in the supermarket and just turn my nose up at it, the smell of pubs makes me want to go in the other direction. That said, I do still occasionally drink - maybe 2 or 3 times a year. Half the time it's like eugh, why did I do that, occasionally, well that was nice but I don't want to do it again. Long term change is possible!

@AvidFan

I can't help but feel as though the reward center of my brain is permanently fried by years or alcohol abuse. I know recovery times vary based on certain factors, but sometimes this anhedonia is debilitating.

I'm incapable.

From one addict to another (my drug of choice was heroin), I've always marveled at how strong alcoholics are for being able to ignore liquor stores, advertisements for alcohol, alcohol in restaurants, grocery stores, etc. If heroin was so readily available, I know it would have been so much more difficult for me to quit. You have incredible willpower. ❤️

Do you mind me asking how you ended up getting off of heroin? As I understand it opioids are a fair bit more addictive than alcohol.

And you are definitely right about the availability of alcohol being an issue. There are bears nearby who eat fermenting apples and sleep off the resultant intoxication under the nearby trampoline. I've also found stills in the woods nearby.

From what I know, that is absolutely not the case that heroin is more addictive. Both are extremely addictive. Also, they say that alcohol and benzodiazepine withdrawal are the only two that can kill you. But I would also argue that although opiate withdrawal likely won't kill you, there is maybe a 1% chance of death due to dehydration or perhaps seizures. I got off of heroin with Suboxone, and then got off the Suboxone also. The latter was recent. I'm 5 1/2 months clean.

that is not ideal. Despite moving frequently, I have rarely been at a street address that didn't have at least 3 bars and a liquor store (also gas stations that sell awful booze) within a 2 block radius. It sure does NOT help.

I'm certainly not that close to one, lol. Maybe I'll come across some fermenting apples in the woods sometime. That's how the bears here get drunk.