I turn 21 on the 1st, I have plans to drink on my birthday but I’m nervous. Any tips or thoughts?

Apologies if this isn’t the right group to post this in, I wandered the drinking groups and bit and this seemed like my best bet.

I turn 21 soon, and have reservations to go to a cool event with my girlfriend(20) and a few family members, and I’m excited ofc but also really nervous. Addiction runs in both sides of my family, and to keep a long story short I’m no longer in contact with my father because of alcohol being the final straw.

I wouldn’t call myself a cool kid, so I’ve never had any alcohol before or gone to parties to be around people my age under the influence. All I have for reference is being told growing up not to drink and that you’ll get addicted from the yearly school lectures.

All that to say I’ve got a little bug in the back of my head saying if I go out and drink it’ll start a spiral and I’ll be addicted forever and man… I’ve gotta finish college I don’t have time for an addiction 😅

I’m just looking for reassurance that that’s not how addiction works, and going out to celebrate won’t drag me down a hill, or for someone to tell me I’m right to be wary. I don’t know how it all works.

I want to go into this excited and enjoy the night, I want to drink once in my life to know what being drunk is like, I want to know what stuff tastes like and why there’s salt on the rim of the cups n shit, or even just to loosen up a bit and hoping I’ll be a bit more social with a drink or two in me 😅

Any advice is super appreciated and I’ll definitely be wandering around the subreddit for a bit seeing what kinds of drinks are out there, thank you all for your time!