Hey GreenPepper. You sound like me in some ways--drinking out of boredom but also to be social. NOt necessarily with bar staff but just to be with my friends. I will say this-- and take it for what it's worth since I've only been sober for just over two weeks after 22 year of drinking (age 13 to age 35) and drinking almost every day for the past year:
*The cravings lasted 9 days. I really wanted to drink every afternoon at 4pm for the first 9 days. Then they stopped and the past 5 days have been great and I feel better than I have in YEARS. It's incentive to not drink. It's been so nice to wake up without a hangover.
*I'm still so close to the beginning but I haven't totally accepted that I can't drink anymore. I feel myself wanting to keep the door open to potentially drinking again in the future. That's why they say "One Day at a Time." IT's overwhelming to think about the rest of your life without alcohol....
*...and if it's overwhelming to think about the rest of your life without alcohol, it may be a sign that you have a problem. SOmeone said this at the AA meeting I went to today-- "People who are normal drinkers don't get anxious and think 'what about my new years' party? What about my wedding' If someone told me I could never drink pepsi again, I wouldn't care, and if I got really anxious about never drinking Pepsi again, wouldn't you think I had a problem with Pepsi?"
*I for one also get terrible hangovers and have lost time to them. I HATE losing time to hangovers. The number of 6 months lost really impacted me. Not to judge you, but just in looking at my own life. What else could I have been doing with that time? The topic at today's meeting was about A Power Greater Than Ourselves. Maybe that power would use me for good now that I have some time back.
I say all that to say that you may just consider, however briefly, to stop drinking past Friday, until you see some of the benefits of being sober and really get some clarity. Just in my own experience, 4 days wasn't enough to get past the cravings.
Take good care, and stay on this forum.