Congratulations on being able to cut out alcohol from your life. I contemplate doing this often but then I really don't know what I would do since all but one of my friends seem to meet exclusively at the bars/pubs here.
There have been a few times in the past year where I went without for a week or something like that and as far as my end of things were concerned I really did feel a lot better buy my social life suffered. I suppose if I was to try to pull off a longer stretch of abstinence I would have to get some better motivation and figure out how I can possibly hang out without booze. It sounds like weakness when I write it like that but I am an "all or nothing" kind of drinker, there is no such thing as getting together for "a beer." I'm going to have a lot of them.