The #BOOM! New Year’s Eve party is typically among the largest in L.A. (photo courtesy of #BOOM!)

New Year’s Eve celebrations are often a reason for optimism, but for the sober community, the holiday can present a series of challenges that can be overlooked by revelers who don’t know any better.

I feel like I can say that definitively, having now experienced both sides of holiday partying.

On May 10, I decided that I had sunk low enough and quit alcohol indefinitely. I looked awful, felt worse and set sail on a journey of sobriety without really knowing what I was doing.

Following three days of agony, it took very little time to recognize the benefits of my lifestyle change, which has helped make this process a lot easier than I anticipated. I’ve since determined that I would go at least one full year without alcohol.

My hiatus would cover every possible drinking scenario: pool days, Mother’s Day, concerts, shows, weddings, the Fourth of July, Father’s Day, football season, Halloween, Thanksgiving, basketball season, Christmas, my birthday, St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo and then pool days once again.

But, I hadn’t even considered New Year’s Eve.

I had heard that holidays are rough for the sober community, and now I believe. My first as a sober person – the Fourth of July – consisted of me sitting in silence, secretly aggravated by overwhelming thoughts about my situation. It wasn’t so much that I wanted a drink; I just felt dumb around my family for letting my life get to this point.

Halloween was tough, as I was the only sober person at the function I attended, but I’d become a little more seasoned in my sobriety at that point.

Despite my progress, Christmas Eve and Christmas were way more difficult than I expected. As I was working my way through that struggle, I was reminded that New Year’s Eve was just a week away. Anxiety ensued. What would I do? Even my aunt who rarely drinks has margaritas on New Year’s; nowhere is safe.

But then, #BOOM!

I first heard about West Hollywood’s sober NYE event several years ago, and my first thought was, “lame.” Quitting drinking wasn’t even on my radar at the time, and all things sober seemed depressing.

I maintained that way of thinking until I grappled with my own sobriety. Even back in May, I scoffed at sober events. I attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and was put off by the whole ordeal.

However, I was still living the sober life and trying to relearn how to have fun, as difficult as that seemed at the time. I had essentially become a high school student again, eating loads of ice cream, blowing money in arcades and going to the movies as regularly as COVID would allow.

My girlfriend showed me some virtual AA meetings that were much more my speed, and I have since rethought my opinions on sober events – hence my newfound fascination with West Hollywood’s #BOOM!

Organized by the Institute for Public Strategies’ West Hollywood Project, which is funded by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, the event has become one of the largest New Year’s Eve parties in the L.A. area, IPS prevention coordinator Dean Ambrosini said.

However, this year’s event will be virtual, which is unfortunate. Ambrosini said it has been difficult to translate such a shindig into a virtual space.

“But we’re doing our best, and it’s going to be quite the event,” he said.

#BOOM! will begin at 9:30 p.m. Dec. 31 and run through midnight. There will be celebrity guests, music videos, performances and a countdown to midnight. Drag musical artist Salina EsTitties will host.

“The holiday season can be a particularly challenging time for people with substance abuse or mental health issues, let alone the additional stress of the COVID pandemic,” Mayor Pro Tempore Sepi Shyne said in a city press release promoting the event.

The event has been helpful for participants. Ambrosini would know. Six years ago, he spent his first sober New Year’s Eve volunteering at an in-person #BOOM! celebration, which led him to his current job.

“It was really [impactful],” Ambrosini said. “Seeing that many people gathered together, not drinking, it [had] an impact. …It’s an amazing experience to be there and be around people and realize that they’re doing everything – within reason – that most people are doing at bars, but nobody’s drinking and nobody notices and nobody cares and not everybody’s in the sobriety community. It’s something to be seen in person, but we’re doing our best to bring it down to the virtual space.”

Personally, I’m still undecided on what I want to do to get through New Year’s Eve, but it is a wonderful relief to know that I have sober options as I continue down this path.

For information, visit boomweho.com.