Great tips, thank you for posting. Everyone told me "make a plan now" and in the past I would take that advice lightly and not really think about things. Sometimes now it even feels silly to go through scenarios in my head. I think "I am not drinking, I am a non-drinker, I ABSOLUTELY never want to drink again, so why in the world do I need to go over this stuff, it is absolutely a non-issue for me, my resolve is that strong" But my resolve is that strong NOW. Who knows what it will be like at a stressful and chaotic gathering. I have found that when I plan out ahead of time what I will say, how I will respond it has made things so much easier when the time has come to actually deal with the drink offers.
I try to go over in my head what they might say, how they might actually offer me a drink, any questions they might ask "what? you really don't drink? why aren't you drinking? not even just one? oh come on, lighten up!" and then plan out the response I will give to that, which often varies depending on how I know the person- work friends. fellow parents of children in my son's class, family members, social acquaintances, etc. Each of those people I would probably give a different response to. Planning out who I am likely to see at any given event and how I will respond given our particular relationship has been very helpful. When the time arrives, and it invariably does, I don't have to stumble or think, I just have an automatic response that comes out with ease.