Congrats on your week without booze. You absolutely do not sound like an idiot, you sound like someone who wants their freedom back.
It was my experience that sitting tight for the first few months was the safest like I say though my experience. Some people do venture out, some do not. I found that as soon as I was put into social situations it became difficult and I just wanted it to be as easy as possible at the beginning because it was already really hard. If your friends disappeared with the alcohol it probably says something about your friends… just throwing that out there, and lucky for you there are billions of people in the world that could potentially be friends so not a huge worry.
This is what struck me the most in your post, that peace of mind and soul. It is one of the best things about recovery, being shame-free, and not having any more regrets.
You are in the perfect place to talk openly about your addiction we are ALL addicts!!! No judgment here, so let it fly. This is your safe spot and if anyone will understand you it will be us.
I am going to link you to a good thread that has links to a lot of other good threads all over the forum.
Welcome to the forum! 2021 edition 
To answer your question about meetings, I go to lots of them, they are an important part to me staying sober and they are an awesome way to meet sober people. You should try them out.