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

I know it makes you go to sleep, but it has terrible side effects. You won't feel it for a bit, but when you change the habit you will sleep much better.

Have a cup of sweet tea.

i'm still awake

ginger I hope you got some sleep ,its bound to be a bit like this at first we cant just make a problem we may have created over a long period of time just vanish.

Dont give up !

I am pretty low but will try and work through it,take my own advice and accept that as the euphoria wears off a bit and its difficult not to follow the well worn path to the fridge and a bottle and a half of wine each evening.

I am not drinking today

Hope everyone is ok

Hello everyone, and welcome to ginger. I hope you managed to get some sleep. I found that the most frustrating thing is lying awake worrying that I am not asleep. But honestly as others have said, although alcohol may feel as though it helps, it is not allowing you to have the proper refreshing sleep that your body needs.

I am not sure whether what we have exerienced in the early days is 'withdrawal' as much, but certainly for me it felt like my body was doing a lot of work to get rid of an accumulation of toxins. I felt pretty crap for a few days, but then much, much better and brighter. You might also notice that when you do sleep you have some pretty crazy dreams. Just don;t worry about any of it. And keep coming back here and posting.

getting you were up early this morning. Be kind to yourself today, be nice to your body, and be nice to your mind - remind yourself of how strong and kind you are. If you're even starting to think that you are not, then look at the posts you have made on mn, and see how much kindness you offer to other people.

silver to hear about you day yesterday. You know JWN posted her first post when everything seemed to be tumbling round about her. It is unfortunate (but probably not surprising) that we get to such a low state before we really take ourselves seriously. You may feel out of control with many other things in your life at the moment, but there is one thing that you CAN to today. You can be determined and (just for today) not have any alcohol.

I am off out to run a training programme today, so won't be around much. Will be thinking of you all.

Morning, all. Just marking a place.

My mantra for today is 'Just for Today I will be unafraid'. I have to do some things that make me want to curl up under the duvet and hide - or at the very least smoke 20 fags and neck a bottle of Rioja - but for the moment I'm just trying deep breathing .

Have a good day, everyone.

today we will not be drinking.
thank you swallowedafly.
I have made doc appointment.
I did that swig of wine from the bottle thing too.
I bought wine in secret and hid it till husband and children were in bed.

I have been a binge drinker for years but the drinking several glasses every night is fairly new.Enough for withdrawal symptoms?

I have had to take today off work as I can hardly move. My head and legs ache, I feel sick

Morning all, am in work after all as colleague is still ill. But I will be leaving at 12.30pm. Hurrah! I am very sorry that I missed the She-Wee conversation last night. Not!

Hello ginger how are you doing? That first night without the booze is always horrific for me. The way you describe it is so familiar to me. I find that I cannot sleep, only very light dozing - sometimes with the added joy of vivid dreams/ nightmares. But I can promise you - it does get better. Within a few days you will sleep better than you have for years. When you wake in the morning (rather than 'coming to'!) you won't have the shame, guilt, humiliation that's normally there, "What have I said? Who did I say it to? Is there anyone I need to apologise to? Did I get rid of all the empties?" Keep posting - tell us how you are today!

Hello to the rest of the Babes!

Hello CJ and SAF - nice to see you both!

silver I am so sorry to hear about the difficult time you are having. You are so in my thoughts today.

Hi everyone, big welcome to ginger, well done on making that first huge step.

SAF don't beat yourself up about the beer - keeping it at one is impressive. Just don't fall into the trap of thinking that can drink in moderation now (not sure, perhaps you can but I know that would be my first thought!!). I keep non alcoholic beer (bavaria brand do a nice wheat beer) in the fridge for the moments that I really need a drink. Its not my usual poison so I can have one, feel the moment pass and move on. I wouldn't dare do it with non alcoholic wine though - too easy to move onto the real stuff

venus hiya, hope the training goes well

silver ((( ))) I am around today if you need to talk. I hope things seem better in the morning - we are all here for you.

To everyone else, big hello. Another day of work here for me, and the excitement of choosing door knobs for DD wardrobe ... the glamour ... G xx

What are you doing today, Ginger? If you don't have a drink today, you will be halfway through the difficult first 4 days. You will have detoxed yourself and it will become easier.

I was going to recommend a book but I have just found excerpts. I will post a link and I 100% guarantee that it won't work. So find it using the www.

home.earthlink.net/~briggsmorebeach/Library/LivingSober.htm

Or, put 'living sober' into google and it is the second suggestion. Should have done this last night.

Did you read back over the old threads? I was up very late last night.

Morning Brave Babes.

Off to catch up and check my emails then I'm all yours!!!

I've been lay across the back seat all night waiting for MIFLAW!

Where is he? JWN have you kidnapped him?

[suspicious emoticon]

MIFLAW we're over here! (Maybe he's actually working??)

Morning all, just a quick hello from me, am working and in meetings but will pop back later (MN is so addictive, not that I have an addiction issue? no no no!)

Will just share a snippet - this morning I had a few tears of gratitude, I woke up in my own clean bed with a man I love (and know) and my boy needed a cuddle and I was there for him. haven't really done gratitude lists per se since my AA days but it really helped me gain perspective - if I was still drinking I would have NONE of this, that's what keeps me soper now

So to all having a rough ride this morning, chin up, don't drink today, don't dwell on yesterday and find one little to thing to be grateful, it might help you x
(Ugh I sound like I have preachy pants on today but I've been there for the early days when you think you're dying and there seems little point in not drinking but it will pass, just give it time)

Hi Mouse, CJ, forthe and Red (yay, nice to see you, sorry you have to work on your hols though!).

I am full of thoughts of shelving, filing systems and stationery in my new office. Where is Wasindie when you need her??

Morning to mouse, MsGee, forthe and dizzy too!

Dizzy - lovely post!

MsGee - good luck with the organising!! Leave a space for a Mouse to sit!

I can't spell sober - how embarassing

*Dizzy - we all find that, myself and JWN in particular!!!

Please would someone make a link to the living sober page I mentioned earlier. It has very practical advice. Cheers.

(you could also tell me how to do links on mn, if you were feeling very kind)