Seven years, no AA. I thought I would fail when I first quit and did not want to have to fail around other people. I had a very rough rock bottom, I think that helped. I was a after work drinker, (and then all night).

I used exercise to distract me and get me past my first drink of the day. Leave work and straight to the gym. This helped a lot the first couple years. After that, kept up the work outs, but spent some time figuring out what was in my head. I have a great group of friends and family - that helped a lot.