Just kind of happened for me. I started by not showing up at the usual haunts for happy hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Told folks i was "taking a break" and "getting in shape". Which was largely true. But things going on in my body....well, I knew I could never return to that.
Twice a week was the minimum. Oftentimes 3 or 4 days a week, and once a month or so on weekends.
Same old crap. Same old boring, childish conversations. Yeah, hell of a lot of fun, but facts are facts, we were just together to drink and get stupid. Weren't too many deep conversations going on.
Didn't realize how dumb it all was until I started hanging out again after a couple months, feeling strong enough to not drink. I grew bored quickly. Both on a nightly and long term basis. It just is not fun hanging out with a bunch of people getting drunk when you are not. Where the drinks and hours just flew by before, now the minutes were dragging painfully on.
I still see and hang out infrequently with a couple of close friends, but many I don't even hear from. That's fine, some of them were merely tolerable when I was drinking. And when I'm not, we have just about nothing in common, no deep connection, and for me, it just became borderline painful to listen to the nonsense and watch the antics.
Yeah, I miss it though. Had a hell of a lot of fun. And when I pass our haunt and look up to our spot on the patio, I long for it sometimes. Cracking open the first one on a warm night in anticipation of hanging out with friends was great. It was fun. But it was also time to move on. Had I not over indulged too many times, perhaps I wouldn't of had to move on. But I am where I am, and not putting myself in an early grave requires I take a different path now.