How do you prepare?
I would never suggest that you grow a thicker skin because, ArtFriend, it is your sensitivity and tenderness which makes you so uniquely you.
However maintaining sobriety entails learning how to cope with our life experiences in healthy ways, including things which bother us greatly but which we cannot, as individuals, directly change. We need to learn to forgo our old coping tool and find new healthy ones. We could opt instead, when considering to soothe our sadness with alcohol, to buy some extra canned goods the next time we go to the grocery store and drop them off at the local soup kitchen or make some sort of a donation to the local food bank. It's something we need to practice - changing our old habits - and takes some conscious consideration.
It's not easy at first but it's a part of identifying our triggers, learning what makes us tick, and adjusting our responses.