JPVBH

I'm in a similar situation. 28 years old and don't have many friends in the area. My friends from other places and family all drink so that makes seeing them difficult. I feel like I will need to make an effort to find sober friends/activities because the when I'm feeling lonely or bored I am way more prone to drink.

DrivenHeart85

Oh I was going to share a weird story that when I was in AA with my sponsor "siblings" as you might call them...we all shared the same sponsor and were younger. One was the same age as me and the other was in here 40's but seemed like a 20-some year old anyway. This oddly enough didn't do me any good. I remember getting so upset because they somewhat excluded me because they had me labeled me as the "good girl". They would talk about drugs, jail, smoking and rehab and I was always clueless. lol I got so mad though because I was that "good girl" in high school and I never knew that being a "good girl" could even apply when you're AA...you'd think by then I would've accumulated some sort of badass reputation. Goes to show that even if you have people your age around you, they can still be vastly different than you.

littlefish

I think you are on the right track, Fluffer. Actually, I think it is crucial to have non-drinking friends if you are trying to stay sober. And, I can take it further and add that it is not just crucial, but really helpful to have friends who are also trying to recover.
Finding non-drinking friends?
The most obvious answer is to become a joiner: join various clubs and organizations - there are conservation organizations that always rely on volunteers, there is animal rescue organizations, also relying on volunteers, there are more people-helping groups that you can shake a stick at.
You can also look at your own interests and see what groups are formed around that: writers groups, sport clubs, etc, and generally, you won't meet big drinkers in these groups: these are people who like doing things together without alcohol.
Have you checked if there are any ypaa groups in your area? Young people in AA...

Fluffernutter

Thanks littlefish! I just Googled YPAA and found a group in my area. I'm going to go to it tomorrow.

EmeraldRose

I always say there is a difference between being alone and being lonely. I like being alone. But then again, for the past almost 29 years I've had children in the house.
Now I'm free to do whatever I want, whenever I want so why would I want a bunch of friends or worse, a boyfriend, messing up my new me time. LOL Selfish? No. I have found that there is alot of me I didn't know about and I would like to know myself better before I try to get to know some one else.

At my new job, they had an animal adoption day so I got the numbers of the local rescues to have something to do on a day off.
I work with dogs daily and sometimes prefer them over humans -they can keep a secret, don't gossip, the drama is minimal, they don't ask for money nor ask me out for a drink.

There are so so many sober options of things to do out there for you young'uns.