The Brave Babes Battle Bus - New Year, New Start And With A Firm Resolution In Their Hearts.

[Mouseface]

Hello, I'm Mouse and I have an ever changing relationship with alcohol.

This is the Brave Babes Battle Bus, it's a support thread for those who feel their drinking habits are not what they should be, or even those of another.

Sober, drinking or somewhere in between, come take a seat.

And for those who would like to know where this all started, HERE is a link to the threads before this one.

Make THIS year THE year that you change your life, for the better.

Have a Happy New Year, full of memories to treasure, not to forget.

For now, we are still over HERE if you are a new poster.

If not, get back over there

here we are then, a new year and a new start, one day at a time Babes, we can do it with each others support.

happy new year

found you buggers. just put a long post on the last thread and it wouldn't accept it.
I am ma and I have just completed Day2 -
Lots of us in the very early days of new resolutions. Come and join us.

Hello everyone, I am going to de-lurk and take a seat on the bus if that's ok.

Happy New Year Babes

BBH - fab to see you hear my love. Welcome to the Bus. xx

So, I'm away at our very close and dear friends house. I watched EastEnders tonight and thought about the friends that I lost last year to cancer and other life changing diseases/illnesses.

I've had lots of fizz to drink and danced until the small hours of the morning with my gorgeous DH. Well, I say danced, I mean hobbled with my wonky hips!!

I lay in bed at 3am, nursing Nemo and after a horrid nightmare that I'd had about past lives and decisions that I can never change, I thought of you all. I hoped that you were all safe and sound and loved wherever you were last night.

So, raise a glass of whatever to 2012. Be safe and be sure that this is the year that you are going to take control of the demon drink.

My diet starts Tuesday. I have a stone to lose. And, I'm NOT GOING TO DRINK.

Even though my birthday is only 14 days away, I'm going to try ever so hard to pick up the slack, get fitter, slimmer and dryer. I want to. I want to stop drinking so much so often. And I will. With the support of all of you. Please will you help? I need a buddy to help me kick start...... who's in?

Back tomorrow,

Mouse xxxxxx

Morning all. Posting in evening too tricky for me atm as lots of people around. Finding it a bit tricky to keep up with everyone on board but must say that you all seem to have managed to keep things under control over NYE and now thank goodness its back to normal routines and a lot easier to avoid drinking situations and festive cheer.

Got through day 1. Had a wobble after dinner fuelled by 3/4 of a bottle of wine in fridge undrunk - there was such a tempation to push back the "start time" until last of relatives has left (have had MIL staying all over Xmas). In end had a glass of coke and went to bed early.

Am a bit desperate for time on own - hence early rising. Good luck all of you day 1 & 2 ers today - will hopefully check in tomorrow am with a clear head.

Have read the Caroline Knapp book and there is a lovely image at the end where she talks about everyone going home to bed with a clear head and a calm heart and am imaging all of you doing that too tonight.

saf - your post about drinking at home after a day/ evening of self control struck a chord with me. Something I do often as am usually driving on evenings out.

Must remember to try to avoid that one as I always end up undoing the evenings good work and the whole evening gets overshadowed by a feeling of hoping it will end soon so can just get home and have a drink.

Hope that doesn't sound negative to you saf - just a sort of memo to myself really.

no it's fine msbojo and a good memo to make. i had just the one on getting home. it was my sister i was thinking of who confessed not long back she was sitting and nailing at least a whole bottle on her own then just laying unhappy on the sofa every evening.

but maybe i'm wrong because apparently she drank little at NYE also and she talked of that too. maybe the chat we had about drinking not long back and the tiny prod i gave the next day sending a text to say maybe just try to drink a little less this evening and tackle it that way did something?

my family have been seeing me have dry spells so i suppose that too would have made her reflect on things.

it would be very good to know that my tackling things a bit had had a knock on effect upon her too. because realistically whilst not the one to make a show of herself in public by getting emotional and telling people her woes whilst drinking she is the one to need to drink excessive quantities alone to sort of wipe herself out in the evenings when the kids are in bed such as others on here have talked about. thinking about it her units would be sky high because she'd also be drinking socially and her alcohol tolerance is pretty remarkable. she's also obese and doesn't do much to look after her health so i worry for her body.

anyway. sorry to go on about sister. i do get worried about her but find it hard because whereas i show my ishoos in retreat and misery/anxiety/taking it out on me she gets stressed and angry and becomes a royal pita in her own outward way but i do love.

mouse lovely have a nice time at your friend's house and well done for dancing hope you don't suffer too much for it. maybe we can partner on the post seasonal diet and drink tackling?

Hello Babes. It's a New Year, and I thought its time I ended my self-imposed MN ban and hop back on the bus to see how you are all doing. I have surprised myself by managing to stay sober since I was last on board. It's not been the easiest time for me, but I managed it. I allowed myself one drink at a friends wedding in November, a glass of bubbles with work colleagues at the end of the year, two glasses on Christmas night, and another two on NYE. I would be super smug, except that having a couple made me long for more, so I know I have to stay strong and stay away from the booze. Special occassions only, so I have already defined the 6 occassions this year when I am allowed a drink. And two glasses of wine or champagne is the maximum for me, any more, and I think I lose the ability to say no to oblivion.

My life has become much simpler since I stopped getting drunk. Clear headed with lots of energy, and I've dropped 10kg of extra weight that I had gained in my thirties. My weekends are filled with good times with my DD and DH, even if we still avoid social gatherings that are too drink-centred. DH is also doing well, he had one spectacular crash off the wagon in the run up to Xmas, but has dusted himself off and climbed back on again. Good for him, I think in many ways, the societal pressure for men to drink is much worse than for women. My friends have all been surprisingly understanding. Some know why I've stopped, others are just accepting the need to drop some kg as the reason.

My OCD is back under control, thanks to an online therapist I found (it proved impossible for me to find on I clicked with here in Bangkok). I get a bit glum sometimes, and still a bit overwhelmed by work pressure, but it's all so much more manageable than it was before.

Life isn't perfect, but it's a damn sight finer than it was earlier last year. So, Babes, thank you so much for providing me with the support I needed to get on this bus, and for allowing me to start my journey with you. Your kindness and lack of judgypants reduced me to tears but gave me the push I needed and the strength I was lacking to climb on board and cling on for dear life. Special thanks for saf and mouse, who deal with so much in their own lives but always found time to reach out and chivvy me along gently when I needed it. I have been catching up with the last thread, and see what difficult times you are both going through - I will try and stay on the bus to repay a tiny bit of the generosity you both showed me. Time to start moving on from being a taker on the bus to hopefully being a giver.

Happy New Year to the finest people on MN. You make me proud to be part of this community of babes.

it is SO good to hear from you tbom! and to hear that you're doing so well (i'm SAF btw just haven't taken my christmas hat off yet so thank you for the thanks!).

i really hope you will be back on the bus.

do you still find a way to enjoy your balcony ritual but without the booze now? and did the floods effect you much? i thought of you when all that was going on - my thai friend was giving me updates on it all the time as her family are there - she was mostly worried about the price of rice though!

Hi saf, I know it's you, the Santa hat only disguises you so much!

I do still enjoy the balcony ritual, but with a glass of diet coke now instead. The aspartame isn't healthy, but it's not alcohol, so one tick in the right box anyway. I had to give up the apple munching - I gave myself really bad heartburn from eating too much fruit! Age is not being kind to my digestion.

We were really lucky with the floods, they didn't really effect us directly. But so many people I know were flooded, and the damage is extraordinary. The force of the water as it came into people's home ripped doors off kitchen cupboards, plaster from the walls. And the mould is competing with the deposited sewage/mud for grossness - one of my friends has opted to remove all the plaster off her walls and replaster rather than try and scrub the 6ft tide mark off the walls.

How are you doing? Seems from the last thread that you are having a bit of a tough time. Very MN hug from me to you.

Re your sister, I've found that several close friends have also reassessed their drinking as I've cut down. I agree, having someone close to you tackle it is often the trigger for trying to do something yourself. But sometimes there's a bit of a period of anger and denial, it can expose habits as being unwelcome whereas before there was always someone who was worse than you.

Hmm that didn't make too much sense. Am about to go to the gym and for a swim, will pop back later.

BOING BOING BOING BOING

BOING BOING BOING BOING

Day 7 for me Isindie and I pretty much boinged out of bed a 8.00am this morning - normally I would be - well - still asleep/passed out

And Yey for Day 2 gorgeous laydeeXXXX

yay to those doing so well

and i'm very glad to hear the floods didn't get you and you haven't lost your special balcony moment boss.

SILVER!!!! one whole week

Great to hear from you theboss an inspiring post for the New Year.

Morning all, Today I will not be drinking:) Looking forward to one day typing and feeling BOING . . .seems such an impossibility at min!

obrigada I thought I would never boing, and then one day it just happened. And it's funny how quickly the boing disappeared the mornings after I had allowed myself a drink. A reminder if ever I needed one about why I gave up in the first place. Sometimes I find that the longer I go without a drink, the harder it becomes to remember why I shouldn't drink. So (yes, this is my OCD speaking, but there are times it has it's uses!) I have a list taped to the inside of my wardrobe reminding me every morning why I stopped. Ive added to the list as the weeks have gone on. My list is:

1. Because when I drink I argue with my husband, and my marriage deserves better than that

1. Because when I drink I can't play with my DD the nex day, and she deserves better than that

1. Because when I drink I'm not at my best at work the next day, and I am the main breadwinner in our house, so I need to stay focussed in my job

1. Because when I drink I risk my health, and my health is the most precious thing I have

1. Because when I drink I put on weight, and can't fit into my clothes anymore

1. Because when I drink I spend too much money, on the booze, on making things up to people after drinking, and I would rather have the money to put away for a rainy day

1. Because when I drink I make an idiot of myself in front of people, and nobody wants to be friends with an idiot

1. Because when I drink I lose my boing, and my boing is part of what makes me real

It's not Shakespeare, but it works for me. The boing bit got added this week, just to remind myself how quickly it goes when I succumb.

Morning, tis me, Mouse

TBOM - YAYAYAYAYAYAY to have you back on the Bus, you've been in my thoughts xx

So, last day of my non diet and then tomorrow is when I get serious. I have lots of foods in ready to help, low fat, no fat, less fat, half, fat etc........

I'm looking forward to this year being the year that I don't post a negative post every bloody day about how ill one of my family is, how tired, how stressed. PMA all the way.

Right, I smell grilled pig. Back later xx

Saf - yes please to the buddying. xx

What a great idea TBOM, think I might start a list myself:) Starting with Because when I drink I feel like absolute shit for the next few days.

Hey Mouse, it's nice to be back on board. I also need to get back on the diet bus - my intake of chocolate, carbs and all manner of fat has been quite spectacular over the holidays. I've been South Beaching for much of last year - not so much for weight loss, but because i noticed my diet was just really unbalanced, waaaaaay too much rice, noodles and fried crap that takes like heaven here in Thailand. So I skipped the first phase, which is the weight loss one, and then used the maintenance diet as a good indicator of what a healthy diet is like. So it's low carb, yes, but the carbs you are allowed are good ones, lots of pulses and lentils, but with deeeeelicious recipes, lots of salads, again with gorgeous recipes, and lots of grilled meat. I'm too much of a foodie to follow most diets, I find them bland, but this one, I'm finding it a walk in the park.

I reckon cutting out empty carbs has also been a great boing restorer for me, I sleep better and don't feel hungry all the time. Pulses are my friends!

How are you doing, my lovely? This year is going to be a good one for you, I really hope. You really deserve your best year yet.

obrigada lists are my friend as well! I have been known to Sellotape a list to myself at the start of the day to force me to get through everything on it. Sad, I know!