One day at a time!   This is a program designed for a 24 hour period of time.  If you can stay in the moment and use the simple program for living one day at a time forever will take care of itself. 

Well this is a question you can only answer.  However in my experience people who are NOT having issues with their drinking or drug use do not seek out social media sites and groups about recovery, nor do they even ask “how do I know if I am a real alcoholic”.  Think about it, people who are not feeling negative results from their drinking don’t think twice about it.  Does it really matter if you are a heavy drinker, a binge drinker or an alcoholic described in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous?  If your life, and the lives of your family and friends, are being negatively affected by alcohol and drugs you might want to find a solution to your problem. 

Alcoholism is a mental illness, it is cunning, baffling & powerful.  It is a disease that makes you think you don’t have it.  The mind of a chronic alcoholic is constantly rationalizing, justifying and blaming. Since the Alcoholics own thinking is the problem, it can not be trusted.  Meetings are a way to play interference on your own thinking.  It is a way to keep you grounded and help you see the reality of your condition, not the way you think it is or the way you would like it to be. 

Most Alcoholics need to have a shift of perception or a psychic change to maintain long-term sobriety. This type of change in attitude and outlook must be a result of the Alcoholics own work & experience.  It is nearly impossible to tell an Alcoholic what to do, they must decide for themselves.  The 12 steps, if done properly, will provide the shift in perception the Alcoholic needs to stay sober.  The steps are designed for the Alcoholic to discover for himself what the true problem and solution are and how to stay sober one day at a time. 

I understand this question far to well.  My experience is that it is harder to get sober again after long term sobriety and the EGO is to blame.  There is an old saying that I have found to be true in Alcoholics Anonymous, that is “The Ego is the last to go and the first to come back”.  The EGO will tell you that you already know the Steps & Principles of AA, that you know what the book says, that you already believe in God.   Your alcoholic thinking will convince you that you are different and you don’t have to start over, you don’t have to do the steps again.  In my experience this is not true.  The truth is that if you really were working a strong program and you were enlarging your spiritual life on a daily basis you wouldn’t have relapsed.   So you obviously missed something.   Let’s try it again, with an attitude of open-mindedness, willingness & honestly.   Humility!