The Brave Babes Battle Bus - Next Stop Sobriety!

[Mouseface]

Hello, welcome to thread number six!!

I'm Mouse and, thanks to these threads, I quit the booze on August 2nd 2010.

This truly is a fantastic source of support for anyone who wants it! Full of real, honest, everyday people who are all at different stages of quitting the booze, cutting down or being long term sober.

There are no judgmental 'know-it-alls' here, whatever your circumstances, you will be supported all the way.

Come and meet the rest of The Brave Babes........

And, as before, here are the previous five threads for those who would like to see how this all began.

JWN's original thread (the reason we are all here)

Thread two

Thread three

Thread four

Thread five

sorry, that sounded a bit self obbessed didnt it! i was just trying to make a point to anyone who was wavering!

anyway, ahhhh wasindie, i loved it when dd fell asleep on me, that lovley baby smell and soft hair just touching you cheek! lovley!!!

mouse - nice to see you this evening! , curry sounds nice! i am impressed with your dh - mine is a wonderful man, but gordon ramsey he aint!

btw - where the devil is venus? is she still floating around on her cloud?

JWN - I didn't mean to make this hit home for you again. Sorry, I wanted to make a point. xx

Wasindie - I'm sorry that bath time is so hard for her. And for you both. Stick with it, she'll pick up from you both that you are anxious about bath time so that will impact on her upset. It's a phase. DS was the same for a while. It gets better.

DS is much better today. Brighter and happier than I expected. I can't be cross with him for keepin gme up all night. I can't. He just looks at me and I melt. He's so gorgeous (pic on my profile if you want a peek) and very cheeky too. He is developing a real sense of adventure and keeping me busy!!

Hi Wasin

Of course it's a disease of denial - all I'm saying is that AA wasn't for me - i completely understand that it has helped millions of people like us. it's just not for me - at the moment - i may change my mind - I think that I probably feel that because I had five weeks OF FREEDOM, I can just start that again tomorrow. With very little effort. Not so. Another battle another small part of the war. But I will do it. So signing off now and will keep you all posted.

I really hope I haven't come across as an arrogant cow. I am a nice and caring person - when sober and when I can relax into the state of sobriety and all the stress that vanishes with that.

Night x

Oh how rude of me, where are my manners?

Hello hadaball

Right you gorgeous lot...... I'm off to read my book and fall asleep sober again. Ahhh, I love being sober.

I'll see you all in the morning. Hydrotherapy at lunchtime and then DS's Community Nurse will be here to help me kick his doctor's arses!

Night. xxxx

night mouse!! see you in teh morning, hope you and mouseboy get some sleep!

well, im off to bed now, looking forward to tomorrow, think i will wander into town and get my hair done, the old roots are showing through a bit! quiet evening here, its really nice - dh is downstairs watching a film, dd is wandering around with a serene smile, (a lad has declared his undying love! , im not surprised, she is beautiful!) i am off to read my book in bed.

see you all tomorrow!!

btw, do you all remember when men were like buses!, all turning up at once!, i quite envy my dd atm, she is in great demand! i say, goooo girl!!!!

thank you wasindi - you are right about babies too! just when you could go and put them in the wheelie bin , they go and do something to melt your heart!

btw wasindie, i dont do schmaltz either, mainly cos i cant spell it!

I am here

I am here, but I have a cold and I am feeling a bit miserable.

Loved your posts JWN. It is easy to paint an optomistic view of how good life is without booze, but you are so right Jesus, that self-destruction is not very far away. That is still the reality that most of us are living with. Not drinking is a new habit, and I know that for me it is not yet fully integrated.

I will be back posting tomorrow when hopefully I am feeling a bit better and brighter.

hello venus, i was just off to bed, you just caught me! how was the mediation week?

Jesus, you have beautifully described what would happen if you 'play the film to the end'.

This is a list of stopping drinking resources. I haven't checked them all out, I am just copying a list I have found.

AddictionInfo
GoodTherapy.org
Life Ring
Rational Recovery
Secular Organisations for Sobriety (SOS)
SMART Recovery
Stanton Peele
The Big Book online
Women for Sobriety

Please note that the Big Book, which is the key AA text, is available free online. You do not need to buy it.

Where's Algae?

wasindie - im glad i stayed up for that! you are the thread laureate!!
for goodness sake woman, get to bed, you will be up again in a couple of hours!

'on line yoda'! will dream now about a sober green woman with large ears!!

Hello Everyone!

I wasn't around last night, as it was DH's birthday and I took him out for dinner. Was a bit nervous about it as the restaurant he chose is one of our "watering holes" where you get delicious, cheap Thai food usually accompanied by oodles of beer. However, it was absolutely fine, I didn't even fancy a sip of DH's beer. Result. And he had a really lovely birthday, so I'm very happy.

Looks like I missed lots of chatting!
Welcome to Hadaball

Love the poem Wasindie!

Silver Hope you don't mind me commenting, and I may be totally wrong, but I get the impression that you are thinking to yourself "Oh my God, I have to give up drinking FOREVER!!!" which is enough to make anyone reach for the wine. The One Day At a Time thing, and everyone on this thread telling me not to project, just worry about today has really worked much better for me. Just get through today, don't worry about forever.

Hope you feel a lot better today Venus

I wish everyone a lovely Thursday. It's going to be Scorchio here today (30 degrees).

I love this thread, you are all fab!

Aw, wasindie I don't think anyone has ever written me a poem before. I am grinning stupidly at my computer.

And then I read JWN's post about a sober green woman with large ears, and I have started laughing. Now that has made me cough and my chest hurts. I am perhaps a bit Felicity Kendal like - as she was in the Good Life, not in that terrible smug gardening/detective thing.

So Diana Dors and Felicity Kendal. Any more?

Hope you are all feeling bright and well this morning. Will have to catch up with everyone on the threads, and will post replies as the day passes.

ooohhh maddogs, 30 degress, what bliss!!, it is bloody chucking it down here and has been all night! well done on dhs birthday meal, you really do sound like a different woman these days, so up beat and positive! hows the bump cominf along btw?, what is your due date if you dont mind me asking?

where is everyone else this morning?

hi venus! nice to see you, i missed you loads while you were away!

Morning All,

Looks like I went to bed too early last night. Lots of wise words and lovely poems!

Maddogs,sounds like you did really well last night. I'm yet to leave the house and really test myself but your post has shown me that it doesn't have to be so difficult. I am, however, a bit jealous of the sunshine. Am I allowed to ask where you are to be in 30 degree sunshine? (sorry if not).

Mouse - did you manage to get some sleep? Wasindie - same Q?
JWN - enjoy the trip to town and hairdo. I can only picture a Diana Dors bouffant
Venus - hi, not sure we have met - hope you feel brighter today
Everyone else - sorry for missing you off, morning and hope you are all ok!

I had a good nights sleep and after her big strop last night DD slept in till 6.45! Incredible.

Had a nice chat with DH last night about how nice it was to not drink (for both of us). He said he was proud of me . He also said that when I started this he had zero faith in me to be able to do it. Not in a nasty way - just that based on past experience he didn't think I would do it. Its very early days but he really thinks I can make the changes I need to now and I can't say how happy I am that he now believes I can do this.

Today is day 7 and although I am not counting chickens and all that, it feels like a milestone. Apart from pregnancies I haven't gone 7 days without a drink in ... well, perhaps ever.

In January I was sick for a month - chest infections, sinusitus, etc. I went to the doctor was told that the chest infection was v bad(I couldn't breath without being in a lot of pain). So what did I do? Got my antibiotics and inhaler and trotted off to the pub with DH and had a glass of wine. And felt proud that I just had one (a giant glass of course!). And then felt sorry for myself when I just got sicker and sicker.

Thats not just a tiny, not very extreme example of how I put drink before everything - even me. I don't think I realised until now how stupid I was then, how I risked my health.

Its not even a week and I already feel very very different to that person. Its like a fog is lifting.I know I have a long way to go but its the furthest I've ever come.

Sorry for the early morning emotional outpour. Just feeling a bit emotional about it all. I would never have got this far without you all. I'm not a huggy person but