If friends aren’t willing to avoid the bar for the time being, it may be best to take a break from them. Ask your friends if they can join you at a place that has less of a booze-focused vibe, like a restaurant or cafe.

You need a good reason to hate booze. Quietly, in your own mind, hate it. Blame it for every evil you can think of. Dredge up your rock bottom memories and use it to push you through.

You got this.

You might find it easier to totally avoid the bar and drinking people for the first few months. Right now your brain is still in the mode of "Gotta find my next drink" and it takes a while to get out of that.

Controversial, but I used non-alcoholic versions of my favorite beverage for the first few weeks to trick my brain into thinking it was getting what it craved. Remember that you're fighting a cunning, baffling, powerful demon in your mind and it will find ways to trip you up, so sometimes fighting dirty is the best defense.

You don't have to worry about not drinking for all of summer. You just gotta wake up and commit to one day at a time. I promise that soon you'll find something in life that you love even more than alcohol.