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

[Mouseface]

Well, this is our tenth thread so we are throwing a little party!

Everyone is invited! No booze of course, soft drinks and mocktails only!

I'm Mouse, hello.

There are all kinds of drinkers on board the bus. Come and join the journey, whatever stage you are at, drinking, cutting down, wanting to stop or sober already.

Everyone is welcome to post here. Come say hi.

The journey so far is below.

JWN's original thread

Thread two

Thread three

Thread four

Thread five

Thread six

Thread seven

Thread eight

Thread nine

Diabolik What a fantastic example of reverse psychology!
Secretly i'm really enjoying these new big blokes! They are actually really funny and good fun to have around. Just not fully house-trained

They get even better once past 18 - you can have actual conversations :)

Me and step daughter really got close once she got past 17 and she was doing politics for her A - levels -- with me working from home and her studying we would have Parliament Channel on follow the debates and shout at the telly together :)

Diabolik I will look foreward to post 18! Well done on day 9 by the way. How are the headaches?

Well seems I am having them at night only -- need to monitor my caffeine intake me thinks ...( I drink loads of coffee and now adding pepsi on top of it )

I still feel slightly hungover from Wednesday night. What an arse.

But I'm back on the bus, and this is actually the end of my third week of mostly sober. So I'm a bit proud of that, and I've noticed that my loved ones are looking at me with slightly less contempt more respect than they used to.

I'm not teetotal by any means yet, but I am MOSTLY SOBER. And that's a fucking start.

Good luck to all today.

Jumping in here with my pennyworth

RED! Welcome back.

Little Red. Don't put pressure on yourself. Don't build yourself up to fail. Yes, it is simpler to give up altogether but (if that is your goal) you can lull yourself into it. If you have a drink it does not mean you have undone what you have done. It does not mean that you have to get drunk and go back to where you were. I think that counting days is useful to some extent but not the way it makes people feel a failure if they either have a couple of drinks or get drunk. You are doing brilliantly.

Mouse has a drink occasionally (very occasionally) and she neither beats herself up over it nor uses it as an excuse to get drunk through the misery of losing so many 'sober days'.

I am expressing myself badly. The very very opposite of what I am trying to do is to persuade you to have a drink. The very last thing.

But, if you do, you do. You are not doing a sponsored walk. You are doing it for you.

Fwiw, I don't think alcoholism is an illness and I have not seen any evidence that it is. The evidence seems to be based on a doctor called Jellinek, who later had his doctorate revoked (or whatever) by Yale. Treating it as an illness takes away personal responsibility. It was declared an illness by the AMA so that it could be treated under health insurance. In 1970, or something.

It is simple. Don't drink, and if you do, don't get drunk. But don't tell yourself you have an illness.

Silver went to France and Switzerland for 4 days and should be back now or soon.

The message from RightPickle above my first sums up what I am cackhandedly saying. Being mainly sober is a fucking start. She (he?) didn't fall into a self-loathing binge. She shrugged and got back on the bus. Thanks Pickle. I should have just given a round of applause to your post.

It is Sarah Ferguson's birthday, too.

Happy Birthday Little Red and Sarah.

Morning All

why can I not bottle this feeling, and open it any time I want a drink. little hungover, little upset, little ??? not really sure

Not beating myself up - just a little disappointed in myself.

OK, going to airport in half an hour. 24 hours travelling but will be worth it

see you all on the other side of the world, where I choose not to drink!!

Thanks FTVLT

(I'm a laydee. I do laydees things.)

forthelasttime I understand exactly what you are getting at. Thanks

I agree FELT - going through endless mea culpa's is a pointless exercise - and all it does is make your live a misery -

As for being an illness - well I consider substance abuse a symptom of personal issues.
As no one starts out being an addict - that always comes later when substance use becomes abuse and imo can happen to anyone although some of us are more prone to this then others.

Bafana, hope you feel better today. 12 days is brilliant - IS not was because you did it and that can't be undone. You can do it again.
I have been sliding a little bit more each evening so have volunteered to drive tonight to flat warming party at my brother's, so I will not be drinking.
that will be the first week over, two bottles consumed as opposed to 6-7, 18 units consumed as opposes to 50-60. The Battle Bus is a good place to be.
Do you need any paracetamol or anything?

ILBB, my post was meant for you, too, but I didn't have your name on the screen. Have a great time and give a wave to Venus on her way back from Delhi.

Morning Babes.

Silver - great to have you back.

FTVLT - I liked your posts, I understood what you were trying to say.

diabolik - my eldest is 11 years and is currently trying her best to be a 14 drama queen! I know that it will get worse before it gets better, she is a carbon copy of me!!

Zombie - shoes today? Are you planning on giving DH a little thrill at the office?

MsGeepers - Nemo had a better night thanks, he is still full of a cold though.

ILBB - WATER!!!! And painkillers and something stodgy for breakfast. Then you can snuggle up on the bus on one of the heated seats reserved for those who are hungover.

Pickle - sorry you are feeling shite still. Funny how it takes you longer to recover when you aren't 21 anymore!

We are at the hospital today with Nemo. Will let you know how we get on. Then I'm off to Birmingham for a night out tomorrow.

I will be drinking. BUT I won't be getting shit faced. I HATE the 3 day hangovers far too much and the last thing I need is a mega hangover plus puking on 2 trains and a bus!!

I don't know if this will amuse anyone but in Australia they were doing a crack down on drink drivers. The cop stops every car in a particular area and asks every driver if they have had a drink. If the answer is no, they ask the driver when they last had a drink. On one shift, every single driver would give the date of their last drink in exact years, months and days. The cops took a while to realise they were outside the end of an AA meeting.

Haven't read through fully but just seen Red is back:):) We have really missed you here Red

It's funny, but when I first started this mostly sober thing, I used to long for Friday, as I figured I would make that my 'allowed to drink' night.

But I've come to realise that drinking on Friday/Saturday nights means I'm just an arsehole hungover frunk the whole weekend, which means I miss or don't enjoy properly doing anything fun/meaningful/necessary on the only two bastard days of the week that I don't have to work.

Why has it taken me 20 years to figure that one out? [insert embarrassed moron smilie here]

Morning all!

Thanks for birthday wishes.

diabolik - will be thinking of you with the party. That is a challenge.

pickle - Hello there! I don't think I've 'met' you?

forthe - I haven't had a drink? I don't think I'm building myself up to fall - just trying hard to remember that it will be tempting to drink and I may experience this 'dip' that's been mentioned, so it's best for me not to relax.

I agree calling it an illness seems cause more harm than good. It's too easy to see it as an excuse. Didn't know the evidence was so flimsy though!

I just read through to the end of the thread and found your Aussie joke. Love it.

FTVLT -

Good morning lovely babes,

Had a surprisingly good night's sleep curled up on the back seat. It's so lovely to be back with you all.

Things are really, really shit in my life at the moment but I am sober today and that's all I can really ask for.

Hello Little Red. We haven't met. I've been too busy being an arse, probably.

Red - here, have a HammerMouseOfHorrors hug!! ((((Mwah ha ha ha ha ha ha))))

I doubt it, pickle! Anyway, nice to meet you.