The Brave Babes Battle Bus - Carry On Past The Brewery!

[Mouseface]

Hello.

I'm Mouse and I've been on the bus for 2 months now and not fallen off it as yet. It's much more comfortable than The Wagon!

Anyway, this is thread number nine!

Everyone is welcome to join at any point of the journey, drinking or not, wanting to stop or just to cut down.

Jump on board, you won't be judged, just supported whatever you decide.

Here is the history of The Brave Babes if you want to have a read.

JWN's original thread

Thread two

Thread three

Thread four

Thread five

Thread six

Thread seven

Thread eight

Diabolik

No offence taken - and I felt much the same before I joined.

Best thing I ever did in my life as it turns out.

But, now the belief has been exposed as illogical, how do you feel about giving it a go? Remember the second "A" - it's anonymous so no one will ever know ...

im off to get ready for another night out! , its an italian theme dinner this evening , anyway,

today has been very busy on here, i have read some real, heartfelt raw emotion!, i just wanted to say that i truly think that soberity is an attainable goal - you just have to want it badly enough!, when i was at my lowest i wrote i list of the things i hated about how drink made me feel, behave, look, etc. - i still have that list, when i read it now i can almost taste the desperation i felt - i honestly felt that i could never move forward or feel truly happy again! - i have been sober for just over 4 months now and i still need the list. the thing is, i have found that life does move on, things can get better - sure, some days are shitty, dh and i still fall out occasionaly, dd can still be a pain, the trust between us all is still an ongoing project, but at least we all have a hope for the future!, this is also within the reach of averyone else who posts on here!, all we have to do is admit we have a problem and then DO something about it!, its actually as simple as that!

btw, diabolik - miflaw has his very own brand of tough love, (he is a right bloody know it all and everytime he is challenged he has a smart arse answer, trouble is, you will find the old bugger is invaribly right!) dont worry about offending him, you cant! (he is also long-term sober so knows what he is talking about!)

silver, dont worry about the flat shoes!, i can do ANYTHING in heels!

hello miflaw darling!, hows mrs miflaw and the bump getting on?

no worries JWN the truth might be unpalatable but its better then some one skirting around it .. ( As they say in Holland - gentle doctors make for stinking wounds ).

MIFLAW - I checked there are quite a few around my way and I do intend of going to check it out - Now need to sit down GF over the week-end and explain what I am embarking on and why ( ie otherwise she might think Im just off to the pub again :) )

Anyway that's me for today of for a nice night out

WITHOUT BOOZE

1 step at the time

Silver - I will not conform!!

Oh, yes, How is Mrs M and the bump? And did you get my PM M?

JWN - you are such a social butterfly!!!

Wife and bump v well thanks ... joys of sobriety ...

A PM? I don't know - how would I tell?

diabolik

If by any chance you are in South london I am happy to meet you and accompany you to your first one if that would help. Or to meet up for coffee some time and discuss what does and doesn't go on.

Incidentally, I am doing the chair in Greenwich on Sunday if you want to hear this sort of wisdom in the flesh ...

can i do a test to see how much i've damaged my liver?

So busy in here today, welcome to all of you. jareth we didn' scare you off with all these posts did we, it's not often this busy and i know you were concerned about these fast moving threads.

What a lot of wisdom here though

come back red, whatever's happened

Think Mouse probably busy with teatime - M scroll to top of page and there is an inbox - should be a red dot - click on it and away you go....

xxx

PM - personal message

Done

Christi you can go and ask your doctor to do Liver Function Test - basically a blood test - they test for an enzyme that will be raised if you have been drinking heavily - fortunately the liver is a fantastic organ and if you've been off the booze for a while it will probably register as normal - despite popular misconception - it is pretty damn hard to destroy your liver - you would have to be putting away a bottle of spirits a day for years - that is what I have been led to believe - the beauty of the liver is that it repairs itself so any damage you have done will be improving every day you don't drink and very soon it will be back to 'normal'.

this is only an opinion after years of discussions with doctors - not a medical fact - but if you stay sober Christi - your liver will regenerate (just like Dr Who) and you will be fine.

Hope that helps xxxx

Thank you M. Glad your lady is fine and dandy and bump is well too.

Hi,

Well I didnt get through last night - friend of mine heard I was sick so came to say with some lemons, sugar and a bottle of brandy......lots of hot toddies were made.

Fel awful this morning but I think that was lack of sleep (didnt drink enough to make me pass out all night) and the flu.

However there's nowt in tonight............and to be honest I'm fine.

I once had a doctor comment that he'd be surprised if I could give up without seizures - when I gave up last time and told him what I was necking. But I can and do.

For me its a two fold thing (1) I'm so used to supping something at the end of my arm it feels odd not to have something there and (2) I have a rather sad hobby which I enjoy and being drunk I don't feel like a loser for being in on a friday pursuing it when I should be out at a party or socialising.

Of course I can't do (2) because over the years I've withdrawn from most of my friends and lost my partner so I don't have many of them anymore (well actually I do have many but they live all over the country)

Fallen

Addressing your points here
(1) can't you have a cup of tea/ glass of coke instead?
(2) I can't imagine what hobby it is, but I think if I imagine an embarrassing hobby, the idea of someone staying in getting drunk in order not to feel embarrassed about their hobby just doesn't make sense to me. Staying in and getting drunk makes you feel LESS of a loser?

In general terms, hardly any of us are out on a Friday socialising, well I'm not, I can't leave my children, I didn't realise that made me 'sad'

I have to get off. I'm drinking as i type this.I will come back and try again. I have to plan a strategy that will work for me - a way of beating this.
Will the bus be swinging round again sometime soon? I want to get on it when I am fired up to really do this and not let all the other passengers down, not when I'm drinking.
I'm sorry

Ma - the bus is ALWAYS here. Whether you are drinking or not. Please come back when you feel ready, or stay and chat.

Demented, stay and chat.

I've just been on to jareth's thread, she's drinking too.

I guess I'd say the same to you - do you think you could just stop now for this evening? Do you really want to carry on all night? How about you throw the booze down the sink, brush your teeth, make some tea?

MIFLAW reminds us to see the film through to the end, not just this drink that you're having now but the next and the next and the grim passing out or going to bed and stumbling, and sleeping badly, waking up, empty bottles, bad head, all that kind of thing. Can you play this film through now?

With all due respect Christi - do you really think that those drinking tonight want to stop once they have started?

I know I never did. I know you never did, or at least not at first. I know I am going against the grain here and will most likely get flamed for this but, we all have to go through 'this phase' to come out of the other side and get where we are today.

No?

It's easy for us to say, just pour it away, brush your teeth twice, go to bed.

I didn't, did you?

If those who are drinking do pour it away and go to bed, fantastic.

If not, it's another part of the learning curve. Or at least it was for me.

I don't really understand (must be a bit thick) have I said a bad thing?

I think that if you are posting on here WHILE drinking, as well as expecting support, there is a part of you that maybe wants to be told to stop, and there is definitely a part of me that wants to help by suggesting that someone does.

But I can see the other side too, that maybe I've just made people feel even worse and more powerless over their addictions by suggesting that they do stop.

Sorry, wind rather gone from my sails now. I'm as useful as a chocolate teapot so I'll go now. Don't want to make anyone feel worse than they already do.

Christiana don't go.

I understand what you were saying and I nodded in agreement with Mouse too.

If I had decided to drink tonight,no-one would of changed my mind,If you are on a mission to get pissed,nothing no-one says stops that glass from being raised.I stop it and I do that alone.

The good thing is that people can vocalise on this thread and in speaking out about their drinking problems,it sows a massive seed of positivity,because jareth is now questioning her drinking.

Little by little for some peeps doesn't make it wrong.

Anyway Christiana,you being daft if you think your posts aren't helpful,this thread has been a lifeline for me today and tonight, I'm sober!

NOT AT ALL!!!

You haven't said the wrong thing lovely, I should've explained it better.

I was playing opposite what you said. Giving you an example of the flip side.

So, in better words, why, if you where/are at the start of your journey tonight, first ride on the bus and all that, would you stop drinking because someone said so?

Well, you wouldn't would you? That's why I said I didn't. When I first posted here I was drinking and lots of posters said, how about not?

I carried on because I WASN'T QUITE READY to give up yet.

Nothing personel against you Christi. Just the way I badly posted!!

So sorry sweetheart, I'm over tired and need some sleep.

xxxxxx