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Old Dec 08, 2009, 04:11 PM
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embracinglife embracinglife is offline
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Well, I'm still working on getting through these last two weeks of lots of papers and tests for the end of my classes this semester, but I thought I'd give a post about something else that has been on my mind lately and is a pretty big stressor in my life right now, being in college.

Well, almost 2 years ago I decided to completely stop drinking alcohol. It was a decision that I really wanted to make and stick to and had pretty strong convictions about. I don't think I necessarily thought it through really hard before doing it, and might have been in denial a bit about how hard it was going to be. But, what I did must have worked somewhat because I have been sober for almost 2 years now. I just stopped cold turkey and made the decision that I was going to stick with it. Most of my friends drink, except for a very small select few, none of whom live very close to me, so they aren't people that I see on a daily basis. And being that I'm in college and over 21, most social functions with people getting together involve alcohol. I try to avoid these situations because I don't really like being around alcohol anymore, and I also do it as a method to prevent me from drinking, because I worry that if my friends pressure me enough I might be tempted again. I sometimes go to a party that a friend is having where I know that people will be drinking, but this is only if I feel that I won't be compromised, at least at the beginning, if people are focusing more on socializing and food before it shifts to getting wasted or something like that.

It's been pretty hard, especially since I'm struggling with depression pretty bad, and I know that social support would be a really good thing for me during these times that I'm going through. I still have some friends that I know are there for me, but I feel awkward because the fact that I don't drink means that I don't really have much other opportunities to spend quality time with them. I still have trouble trusting and getting close to people, but I really want to get better at it, and make an effort to improve some of my friendships.

Anyone have any ideas for me? I guess ideally I would like to be able to meet more people that don't drink, AA might be one option, but at the same time I just want more friends my age that I can relate to more, and I don't know that I was necessarily an alcoholic before, even though I may have had some of those tendencies. On the other hand, I think it would be fine to have friends that do drink, since it is quite hard to find people that don't, but I just need to figure out how to make the friendships work better since I know that I am committed to not drinking. How to I try to be open about it with my friends and ask for their support for me in this decision, even if they themselves don't chose to abstain from alcohol? Anyone have any experience in a similar type of situation as this?