LJC - my husband works in sales and his situation sounds similar. How did you refrain from drinking or prepare yourself for work situations where everyone is drinking?
Well it was pretty difficult to be honest. Not so much the not drinking but more so that I didn't know what to do with myself. Meaning I felt really out of place. I had always drank at things like that and drinking occupied my time. Now I don't drink so I felt like everyone was paying attention to the fact that I wasn't. That was really more my issue then anyone else. If he doesn't make it a big deal then it's not. They probably wont even notice.
I must say, early on I did my best to avoid those situations cause I wasn't ready for that. I would have been pretty overwhelmed.