Went to Dallas for a work thing this week. On Wednesday we went out to dinner. Our group met up with some other company employees for drinks then moved on to dinner (Mister Charles in Highland Park, and it was fucking fantastic.) Another guy in the group and I were the sparkling water drinkers. The booze flowed for the others and I have to admit, I was a tid bit tempted to order something to "fit in." At dinner, someone asked me about not drinking and I straight up told her that I quit because my drinking had gotten out of control. That actually felt good to say out loud in that kind of setting. This is another of those drinking situations from the past where I would have paced myself and kept the drinking to "acceptable" amounts. But not drinking socially has been one of the most challenging for me.
After dinner, some of them met up with different work group for drinks at another place. 2 of us (the other sparkling water drinker) went back to the hotel. I kind of felt like a party pooper but then again, I was in bed getting a good (sober) night's sleep while the others got back almost 2 hours after I had fallen asleep. I had some work to do as well so knocking that out and not being up late was worth it. The next morning, the others were all worn out while I was feeling pretty good. If I had gone out with them, there was a pretty good chance that I would have come back to the hotel for a couple of drinks by myself to finish out the night.
I'll be traveling for my job off and on so working in this environment will keep up. But fucking-a was it great to wake up on Thursday morning knowing that I'd made it through another challenge.