Welcome to the forum, friend! You seem highly motivated. Here are some ideas to put that motivation into action. Simply “trying not to drink” or “trying harder not to drink” and “distracting myself from drinking” never worked out for me. I would simply “change my mind” and pick up a drink.
And I’ll make a guess - you tell us you don’t drink every day, but I’ll wager that you do think about drinking every day. When I was able to flip that to thinking about sobriety every day and taking positive steps to make that happen, then I was able to get sober.
Blessings on your house as you begin your journey.
as you begin your journey.