Social environments are always the hardest at the beginning. If you don't want to be sober during them, then the chances are that you won't be. I found socialising tricky at first... but even though others were drinking around me, and all it would take is a "can I have a wine, please?" deep down I really, really didn't want to drink. You just have to find that determination inside you and allow it to take over. If you still love alcohol, then it's going to be a lot harder. I 'gave up' many a time before I actually stuck to it, and it wasn't until the last time when I really HATED alcohol and despised what it had done to me, that I found saying no easy. You can convince yourself that you and alcohol are no longer friends, that you DO want to go out and not imbibe. This thing is as easy or as difficult as you choose to make it.