Thanks for the support y'all!
Btw, off topic YaySartre...but is your username in reference to Jean-Paul Sartre?
The situation in which I find most difficult to turn away alcohol is when I'm drinking with philosophers who like to drink...Despite all the anxiety/emotional problems that alcohol has given me (or aggravated), I still have some Bohemian intellectualism fantasy that I chase after. What I tried to do one time was to not drink with them right away (I ordered coffee instead), and found that the conversation was just as stimulating...so perhaps it's not really about them, but just about being comfortable in my own skin...