Hello and welcome MrBen
Did you lose your friends when you quit drinking?
I lost touch with those people who's drinking matched my own , were worse or slightly better .. our friendship was all about drinking or getting out of it one way or another .
How did you go about explaining why you're not drinking?
Short term i said i was on anti-biotics , Nowdays i just say i gave up becuase it wasn't much fun anymore , which it wasn't .
How do you deal with the boredom? (one of the main reasons I drink)
I had to get involved with things, make my own fun , learn to play the guitar , read , evening classes , sing in a band .
What can I expect from the recovery process, as in, is there a certain time frame to feeling "normal" again?
I felt good after 3 weeks , brilliant after 3 months , 6 months a depression i didn't know i had left ... Drinking for me was something passive , to enjoy sobriety i've had to become actively involved with life and learn to deal with issues rather than run away and drink to magicly dissapear the discomfort .
Stick with it ,
Bestwishes, m