Tip #7 - Friends

Friends are funny people, in that they've probably been people you have had drinks with, both bad and good.   So you have to try to navigate the friend aspect of not drinking with the least bit of pressure, and many good friends will allow you to do this, and support you.  But without drinking, the dynamics between you and your friends will probably change a little bit.  For one thing, you should have more energy, eventually, and that might lead you down different paths.  For another, you probably don't want to go hang out in bars all the time anymore.  Not that they aren't fun, but now they smell a whole lot worse than they did when you were drinking, and the idea of screaming over some loud music to have a mildly engaging conversation--after all, how engaging can it be when you're screaming, and what message would that send in a different context?--that could be had at a nice quiet locale instead.  So yeah, you might find yourself branching out to meet new friends, or re-establishing the types of relationships you have with current friends.