Peer Pressure/Social Skills
On these boards, and in life, I often hear people speak of peer pressure: "Well, they were all drinking, and it would have been weird if I didn't", etc.
Let me tell you something. It has NOTHING to do with alcohol. It comes down to a matter of social skills.
If you have poor social skills, people will give you a hard time if you drink; they will give you a hard time if you don't drink.
If you have superior social skills, people will respect you if you drink; they will respect you if you don't drink.
AND, if you have very well developed social skills, and I've seen this happen, you can choose not drink, and the other drinkers will want to copy you. They'll copy appropriate other elements of your personality for themselves.
This, however, comes only with true social mastery.
For most of us, the simple problem of abstaining while others are drinking can be solved if we will take a systematic approach to overhauling our social skills. In the end, this will make sobriety that much more likely.