Originally Posted by
whatsgoingon 
My biggest fear is that peer pressure will lead me to drink. Weekends away with friends puts me under pressure. I feel that I don't want to spoil people fun by not drinking but why should I sacrifice my health for their pleasure? If they were good friend they'd understand. I think the only way to hammer this home is come clean and tell them that alcohol really affects me in a negative way. I've been saying it to myself for a while now that I don't enjoy alcohol like I used to. I used to like the social side of it but now it just feels wrong.
Dude, you're a 40-year-old middle-age man, not a 20-year-old frat boy. Time to man up and have confidence in your convictions. Unless your friends are a bunch of immature tools, then a "nah, I'm good today [when offered a beer]" should pretty much end it there and not ruin their fun at all.
Also, nice epic fail on the text messages scoring some skunk. I was lmao reading that, but only because I knew the outcome was for the best and we've all done some clever hiding, at one time or another, only to realize later that it was blatantly obvious to those around us.