The Brave Babes Carry On The Charabanc Trip - Leaving The Booze Behind!

[Mouseface]

Hello and welcome!

This is thread number eight!

The Brave Babes are all at different stages of quitting the booze. Some have stopped, some are thinking about it and some are just cutting down.

They are full of support and wisdom for those of you wishing to climb aboard the Bus or Charabanc!!

The Babes aren't an exclusive club, they never judge and they don't charge for advice either!

So, come meet them. I'm Mouse, by the way, and I've been sober since August 2nd 2010, something I would never have even considered without the support of these threads.

Here are the first seven threads, if you want a bit of history.

JWN's original thread

Thread two

Thread three

Thread four

Thread five

Thread six

Thread seven

HAHA, it never occured to me that if you drink on Antibots they don't work, I just thought do-gooders were trying to spoil my fun

Mouse I've got a week of Metronidazole before my 'op' on Thurs, they're effective but vicous, my advice, take with food.

Hi Red, nice to see you back and hope you get through Monday ok x

Dizzy

Before I moved to London I had heard tales of all the famous people I would meet in "the rooms" - I heard about the free gigs played by grateful members at conventions and even heard about the Twickenham meeting nicknamed "Stars on Sunday"!

My first celebrity was someone I met at Shoreditch Thursday and, while not massively famous, you would recognise him as a TV actor. This was my big chance; should I act casual, ask him for his autograph, find out his regular meetings and pal up with him, or what?

We ended up talking about ... pissing in phone boxes! Because THAT was what we had in common.

(I also had a conversation about men's shoes in an Eaton Square meeting with someone a fair bit more famous but, again, his celebrity seemed not to matter in the context.)

Absultely M, I had to make tea for an actress that I had huge prfessional respect for. My hands were shaking and mouth was dry - I was utterly star struck, then she took the chair and shared her story and all the glamour disappeared - she was just me with a bigger paycheck and it was so refreshing to realise even outwardly confident 'stars' needed the help of the rooms too.

AA hijack over, thanks for the birthday wishes, I wasn't actively seeking them (much )

Sadly I have not come across many stars in my oop North meetings! But I am sure it would be exactly as MIFLAW and dizzy have described!

Just want to say that today I will not be drinking:)

Good stuff desire. Me either! I am just about feeling totally back to normal, no backache, random bruises fading (luckily none on my face - although that has certainly happened in the past!), hair nearly back to normal!

As a side note I have lost about half a stone in this past week. The heartbreak diet - it really works! All joking aside I need to get some good food inside me. Having sausage and mash for dinner with DH. Then going to a meeting and then heading back to my parents for the night.

I went to a "spin-off" AA group once with a friend. I was for relatives and friends of alcoholics. I went to support my friend whose dad had severe alcohol problems.
It was in NW London (no celebs present) but I spent the whole meeting listening and crying...not quiet crying but full-on sobbing.
The accounts I heard that day made my heart break for my poor mother who was "dragged up" by her alcoholic mother. I cried for her that her childhood has been so awful and she had as a result virtually no self-confidence.
I think I also sobbed because I was scared. Scared of turning into my grandmother.
Now I have two children I am even more terrified for ending up like her.
Today I'm not drinking.

Was it Al-Anon that you went to lucil?

You need never turn into your grandmother. You can make sure that this does not happen by not drinking. One day at a time. It is already a fantastic sign that you can recognise the harm that was done to your mum. You are already ahead of a lot of problem drinkers/ alcoholics.

Yes, it was Red. My emotions really surprised me. I am not generally a "crying" kind of person.
It was a very draining experience.
Today I feel much like you. I am sick and tired of thinking about drinking, resisting drinking, worrying about the next time I'm offered a drink and if I'm honest, irritable and pissed off with myself that I am unable to drink responsibly and normally.
I'm not drinking today and although I know it is the right decision, am fed up.
I am not sure whether I believe in an alcoholic gene but I have always been told I'm a lot like my grandmother in looks and some characteristics.
I know only I can control whether I "end up like her" or not but I feel so tired of thinking about it so much.
Sorry for slef-pitying post. Got a dental check up later (with DC1 aged 3.5 yrs) and it always ends up costing me a fortune.
Crap teeth - inherited those from my father!

Moan and vent all you want lucil! I know exactly how you are feeling (down to the crap teeth inherited from father, ha ha!)

I am not sure about the gene either. The disease is definitely in my family though.

I am so glad that you know what I mean about just being bloody fed up with the whole lot of it. I am just sick of it. I am exhausted.

I'm reformed one day at a time, as long as I don't have a drink.

FWIW every time I pissed in a phone box was after "social" drinking, and on several occasions while I was at work!

Thanks for sharing MIFLAW! I am pretty sure that I never used a phone box but plenty of other unsavoury locations!

There really is a lot to be said for "one day at a time", everything seems bigger and more impossible to achieve or conceive of when you are projecting, it's one of the main things I have learnt on this thread.

Red, Luci I'm terribly afraid that there might be a hereditary aspect to alcoholism. My DS has never, and I hope will never, see me pissed but I'm fearful that he'll end up like me regardless. He also has a recovering addict dad in my DH so I fear its a bad start.

I'd love to be convinced that how we raise him will shape his attitude to drink and drugs but I know my problem is ingrained in me, I pray that he doesn't have to suffer like I have.

Ooh, bit depressing, sorry x

dizzy it's horrible isn't it? Although there is alcoholism in my family it's not my parents or anyone I was brought up around closely when I was young and 'impressionable'. My parents brought me up to be very respectful of alcohol but it still 'got' me! Grr. I would not wish this illness/ disease/ addiction whatever you want to call it on my worse enemy.

afternoon everyone! just a quickie, its my deadline week and as usual i have left it all to the last minute!

i have found it a huge relif to just say 'thats it, you win, i quit'!, no more worry everyday, no more agonising in the mornings, no shitty hangover etc!, its just a pleasant feeling to have that decision made, makes life nice and simple! , suits me just fine! - everyday it is easier to say

TODAY I WILL NOT BE DRINKING!

I'm having a wobble - just been informed by my DS that my ex's woman is over here (she lives abroad) and that they have just been away together for a week. It shouldn't bother me but it does...and just at the time of day when I would reach for the first glass. I am fairly sure I won't, but instead of feeling good about it I feel crap.

hippy - don't do it. It will not make anything better. It will make you feel much worse. Just take a deep breath, make a nice soft drink and try to relax. Well done for posting on here how you are feeling.

Hi Hippy, sorry you feel bad - can you do something nice for yourself tonight, take your mind off it. I always used to paint my nails when I felt wobbly, very hard to open cans/use a corkscrew with wet nails!
Be kind to yourself and remember, you'll feel worse mulling it over with a hangover tomorrow, why give them the satisfaction x

hippy, the moment will pass! - just think, why should the thought of that old cow have you reaching for a drink!, you are worth more than that!! , you know you are!!

Feel good about not reaching for that first glass. It's bloody hard work - I should feckin' know!

Look at all the replies flodding in! Love it!