The Brave Babes Battle Bus - Here's To STAYING On A Sober Holiday!

[Mouseface]

Hello, I'm Mouse

I have an abusive and volatile relationship with alcohol.

This is the Brave Babes Bus, it's filled with sober, drinking and somewhere in between Babes who are all here for the journey ahead, whatever that may entail.

EVERYONE is welcome on this Bus. No-one will judge what you are going through, what you drink, what you don't or what you do.

Come take a seat.

Take a peek at the journeys so far (including the thread by JWN that started this whole journey off) HERE

SILVER put that man down and get on this bloody bus. it hasn't moved in months.

jolly good - that worked - off to bed now - had a verrrry long day

we shall be on the road with the lovely Gerald tomorrow - leaving at around ten - if I wake up - xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thanks ma x

Night Babes xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

ps Zany

don't let him get to you - rise above it and be the bigger person- your DS will still love you as much as he always did - breath and try to be calm about it.

Fecking hard but you can do it x

Thanks Silver good to see you back. x

Evening All

wantto thanks for saying nice things about me
mouse thanks for believing them

Was so nice to meet one of the BB's in person, and I am looking forward to doing it again soon.

Have just been out for tea with a friend, and then to a meeting, was so good, and I laughed alot. Funny how at ease you can feel in a room of people that you can totally identify with, just like feeling totally at ease with talking to you all.

indie am so glad that you and dp had a good evening last night, I am going to take DD to the movie on Sunday whilst DS is at a birthday party, I shall attempt to overlook the dodge accent!

legal please stay!

venus thank you for the lovely PM.

To everyone else. Wow - just wow, what an amazing bunch, you awe me, inspire me, and humble me every single day. Am so proud to be a brave babe.

Bafana
xx

Another vote here for legal to stay. I am sure that every time one of us posts about our drinking, not drinking, struggles and triumphs, there is someone out there reading it and thinking 'yes, yes, that's EXACTLY how I feel right now!'

ALL of our experiences and insight are valuable and helpful to someone even if we don't know it at the time. Apart from JWN and few early posters, almost all the others have been just following the thread to start with, gradually building up the courage to make their first post. It's ALL these things we share that gives them the strength to do this, wherever they are in their personal journey.

So, legal, and anyone else not sure whether they should be here. Please stay. x

Hi scaredy,
Don't be scared of the thread. Everyone is at ddifferent stages. I was a lurker and just joined. For me it started with what you were drinking and I normalised it with stressful job etc. It rapidly progressed to drinking in secret. Topping up. Always wanting more. Not able to stop.
My life became unmanageable. Things I never thought could happen happened. (His time las week I hit rock bottom. But I am taking steps small ones to get sober. Any alocohol is not an option for me now. There are some people on the thread trying so slow down or control thir alcohol. Only you know the truth about your drinking.

Sorry posted too soon. You can do this. Keep posting and some babes will be along soon. Xxx

Hi Scaredy the amount you are drinking is a LOT. Maybe more than what some of the babes are/were drinking, maybe less... But compared with 'normal' drinkers it is a LOT, very few people drink 6 glasses of wine in one session.

I was also drinking 1-1 1/2 bottles of wine per night, I drank a lot of water with mine as well, trying to reduce the hangover effects. It may well have alleviated the headache symptoms, but I certainly wasn't firing on all cylinders.
Do join us and decide whether you want to cut down or stop altogether. I went for the stopping option as I had often tried to cut down unsuccessfully before.

I really hope you decide to stay on board this time, it certainly works for me

Morning All
Boing

Had one of those great experiences where I woke up and thought it was Friday, But actually is Saturday! Woop woop. and the sun is shining! And I am sober,
All in all a good start to the day.
Going to throw myself in the shower and get ready to face the world.

scaredy dog can only reiterate what BB, Indie, and wantto have said - and add, that in my experience people who don't have a drink problem, dont lurk on these threads, or wake up in the middle of the night and worry about them, or look at their drinking in minute detail, and if it's worrying you, why not join us. It's not Hotel California, you are welcome to stay, but we won't kidnap you and keep you against your will!!

indie enjoy your weekend with the DT's and DP, you are sounding really great and in a good place.
BB nice to see you - it's funny to think how many of us used to wander round without truly firing on all cylinders, wow world - watch out for us now!!
wantto baby steps honey, keep it in the day and no projecting . you know where I am.

To all - hope you find sunshine moments in your weekend
Love
Bafana
xx

Hey Indie and Bafana thanks for the greetings, as you see I am still lurking around here. Having a very lazy moring here I have small visitor this weekend so being introduced to the saturday morning TV wonders of Total Wipeout and Hole in the Wall. Lucky I have MN to distract me

Still can't get over how Boing I feel all the time, I thought I was a natural Eyeore type, but it seems it was my 'friend' the booze doing that to me!

Isn't is strange BB
I was talking to some newcomers the other day, and was overcome by just how sad and despondent and beaten they were. I know I was just exactly the same! I look back in awe at how much I really didn't like myself! I really don't know how I expected anyone else to love me, when I really didn't like myself at all.

And yet, I do wake up almost every morning with a feeling of boing do your best world, but today I am ready to take you on. (although the fact the sun is shining today is definitely adding to my boing factor this morning) - oh, and the fact that my fil has just phoned, and is coming to pick the kids up in 20 mins for the day - and unexpected bonus. Not that I dont want to have them, but will let me do the housework in peace, and without the TV droning out American shite, that would remove the boing from any sane human!

Anyhoo - rambling. Take care

Morning Nothing to say, so just saying hello

Ok am back, after yesterday's slightly petulant outburst (thanks to all for the "come back" advice ). (tbh, have a bit of a hangover although I only had three glasses of wine last night. Am becoming a lightweight).

Have been for a mood-lifting run this morning (it occurred to me that the low mood yesterday might have been due in part to not exercising at all last week - no childcare cover). Must make sure that I keep doing exercise even when university term starts. Also, I had run out of iron supplement and didn't take it yesterday.

SaF - suspect we are very similar, I definitely recognise the bits about intense brain activity/wind down and leaving exams early! I find that when I've been working intensely my brain "spins", I develop terrible insomnia and a glass of wine seems like a good solution....

wantto - glad that you are doing so much better - best of luck with the meetings.

scaredy - welcome to the thread! I have been a bit slapdash on the cooking front lately and was thinking it was time to make more of an effort. Anyone interested in some sort of "let's share our favourite recipes and cook them without drinking while cooking" arrangement for Friday nights (or any other night for that matter)?

I will be drinking today, but not until evening and not very much!

PS noticed this morning that the colour of my irises seems to have changed (not dramatically, and I had my eyes checked a couple of weeks ago,so not eye disease), and while googling it came across this interesting article. Apparently people with blue eyes are more likely to drink themselves silly to give themselves social confidence.....

PPS in case anyone is interested in eye colour- article here

Afternoon fellow babes

Pouring with rain here and grey clouds abound but I AM NOT DRINKING AND LOVING IT!

Just wanted to share the joy on the thread today.

Scaredy nice to meet you. I have never (yet) hit my rock bottom, far from from it and I hope I never do. But I was drinking almost a bottle of wine every night and regardless of what everyone else was doing, I knew that was not good for me.

What I have found helpful is to try to think exactly what it is I like about it when I am drinking a glass of wine. The taste? Nah, I find even a dry wine very sweet now. The ice-cold chilled glass? Nah, I can have that with a soft drink. The 'hit'? Nah, I have to drink a lot to get that.

For me, I think it is the 'fuzzy' feeling where I am blissfully content and love everyone. That's the only thing I like about drinking. That feeling lasts about an hour or two if I'm lucky. BUT I have to be quite pissed to get to that stage and that means a HORRENDOUS HANGOVER the next day. Really. It's seriously bad and ruins my whole day.

It is just not worth it. And the thing that makes me KNOW this for sure is because I wake up saying to myself, shit! shit! shit! wtf did I do that for. NEVER AGAIN!

'Fuzzy' feeling for an hour or so -vs- waking up with a clear head, from a good nights sleep, feeling refreshed and on top of the world the minute I open my eyes.

Sorry for the long post but if you want to compare how we all feel about our drinking, I think it may be helpful to also share how we feel about not poisoning ourselves on a fairly regular basis

Have a day babes x

Oooh legal I have blue eyes! I'm not much of a cook but would love to hear other's recipes to try out, good idea. Especially Friday night wobble time

Hi everyone!
Well I'm aad to say that I didn't manage to go for a run this mornng.......
That's because I was enjoying a whole 11 hours of sober sleep!
Very proud of myself, no booze at all last night. I slightly fancied a glass of wine with dinner but definitely wasn't gagging for one. Feeling good today and looking forward to going shopping with a clear head.

As for the rest of the weekend, I will see how it goes. My new mission in life is definitely to never ever EVER have a hangover again! You're so right Fairenuff, it's completely NOT worth it!
Thank you all for your support, I hope you're all doing well today, despite the weird weather xxx