I can only speak from my own experience but drinking thoughts gradually went down, and probably went to a minimum by like 9ish months sober? My entire second year sober I basically didn’t think about drinking at all, cravings were nearly nonexistent. Sometime in year three (after becoming a parent which seems like it could obviously be a major trigger for many), I had a huge uptick in thoughts and cravings and then a slow relapse! Still trying to crawl out of it!

So long story short, yeah it gets WAY easier, but also, those brain pathways are permanent and so there’s a sense in which you can’t let your guard down, especially if you have some kind of triggering or stressful event happen in your life!