I [26M] an international guy, have lived across the Midwest, West Coast, and East Coast for the past few years for education and now work. In most social settings I’ve experienced, most social activities seem almost exclusively centered around drinking or going out to bars/clubs. Even more so in the dating scene.
I have been for all my life a teetotaller – never drank, never even remotely liked the idea of drinking. I don't mind it when other people do, I don't hold it against them at all. But I feel my lack of drinking really inhibits the potential to connect with people in meaningful ways.
Are there common ways where people my age socialize/date regularly without alcohol? Or do I just bite the bullet and start drinking a bit 🙁