Stry, I think you should do what you think is the right way to stay off drinking. Other people will sometimes point at this as a negative thing, whether they are nasty, jealous, clueless, whatever. It will be a crappy feeling. It's true that you will have to learn to adjust to the reality of alcohol around you at SOME point, but that doesn't mean you are expected to pull that off overnight - this is not an ON/OFF switch, this is a persno with emotions. I can tell you I am really happy you are focused on "you" though, that is a positive sign to ME! You talk about not being comfortable without having alcohol and you want to look at that part of you. That meeting you are going to sounds interesting, would like to hear how the first one goes.