There were immediate reasons why I wanted to get sober, specifically to stop the consequences of my drinking and its effects on my life, and to be able to arrange my circumstances (people, places, and things) to my liking. There's nothing wrong with trying to build a life. But whilst my sobriety was tied to whether or not my plans (however worthy) were coming off, my sobriety was precarious.
Alcoholism is progressive, fatal, and incurable, and an alcoholic death is (usually) neither swift nor pretty.
Moreover, opportunity is not a lengthy visitor, and I could not guarantee that, if I drank, the opportunity to get and stay sober would once again be granted.
Once I really understood these points, people, places, and things stopped mattering: staying sober became an objective for its own sake, and the only requirement I placed on AA was that it keep me sober, which, once I did precisely what it asked, it met.
The life did get built, but not how I expected or planned. My life, 27 years later, is quite satisfactory. I have no regrets, and I am peace.