The Brave Babes Battle Bus - Kicking The Devilish Demon Drink Into Touch This Hallowe'en!. Mwahahahaha!

[Mwahahahahahahahouseface]

Hello

I'm Mouse, well normally! [hgrin]

Welcome to the Bus. We are a mixed bunch of Babes, some of us drink, some of us don't and some of us are trying to find out the best way to cut down or stop completely.

There is plenty of room on the Bus for everyone so, come say hi. [hsmile]

And, if you'd like to see what brought us all here, you can read all of the past threads, including the original one by JWN RIGHT HERE

Morning

Sorry I've not been around much, busy with the Nobdies, real life and bonfire night

Nemo LOVED the fireworks, he thought they were amazing! Really good. He was able to follow the rockets up in the sky this year so it was good to see him smile as they went off.

DD had her friend over and today we are off to Delamere Forest with friends for lunch and a huge walk.

Should be awesome

Taking the wolf too so in this glorious weather, it will do us all some good.

It's been very very quiet on here hasn't it?

I'll try and pop back in later to see if anyone is around.

Have good days everyone xxxxx

morning!

fairly boingy here but im totally stessed out - we are supposed to be going on holiday next week but the fucking buggery holiday people have cocked up with dh's scuba diving so he is bloody furious and demanding we get our money back or change countries so he can dive - all i want to do is sit on a beach and read my new books! , dd and bf are staying here while we away and only half the upstairs is finished and ive got boxes everywhere, ive got loads of work to get through and last night i got hit on the eyebrow by a bit of firework and now i have a shiner! nice!

im off out to get my little bottles of cosmetics and a few christmas presents - going away at this time of year takes some getting used too, all my seasons feel out of kilter, still, at least we dont have to pay the inflated 'school holiday' prices anymore, every cloud and all that!

Super quiet, is everyone making the most of one of the last few reasonable weekends before hibernation?
JWN sorry your plans have gone awry, you will forget all about it when you are in the sun. I love to be away at this time of the year, you miss some of the Xmas manic-ness, but are back in time for the fun, and you will have a fab tan to set off your Xmas glam as well!
Mouse I had a little wellup at the thought of Nemo watching the fireworks, how utterly lovely.
Have a good week BBs x

Evening all.

Jesus I hope you get your holiday sorted out and find somewhere where dh can scuba. You don't want him hanging around you moaning about it when you're trying to catch a few rays and read your book, I'm sure .

Well I have a small announcement to make. So far, on the diet, I have managed to lose 14lbs so I am nearly halfway through my 30lbs in 90 days!! Yay me!

I probably spent 5 years yo-yo dieting and the whole time I was sabotaging myself by drinking. Not only was the booze piling on the pounds, but also all the crap I ate with it - nuts, crisps, etc.

Now I feel so much healthier. It's much easier to be more active, I don't get as breathless playing badminton. In fact, I feel energised, slimmer, my skin is in great condition, my hair, eyes, everything is shinier and healthier.

Now I'm not glued to a glass of wine in the evenings, I am making proper meals, going out, getting stuff done that I couldn't be arsed with before. I also have more money which I intend to spend on myself, starting with new clothes as I go down a size.

My BMI has dropped and so has my blood pressure. I've got a way to go yet but thanks to this bus and all you lovely babes I am on the right track. I don't want to drink like before. The new me is emerging and like myself a whole let better than I did when I was drinking.

One thing I have realised, and I don't know why it took me so long to understand this, is that alcohol promises so much and delivers so little. I don't need it or want it anything like I did before.

Fantastic Faire
You are so right, alcohol takes away so much more than it gives, and unfortunately it is not until one is able to give it the elbow, that one can make that realisation.

Morning all,
Must change my name back - but today is MOVING DAY so other priorities. Just finishing off, labelling the boxes, getting bikes out the shed, etc. At a million miles an hour, I'll be ready for bed by 7 tonight I expect! I could never have done this drinking, I'd have sabotaged, self-pitied and refused to take the responsibility. I'm ready to go but if there's something that turns out not to be right, I can take responsibility for it.
OK, here ends the first grateful waffling. Oh, and I have a friend coming to help, how lucky am I, last time we moved when I'd just joined this thread, I was really isolated. And I'll be in a meeting tonight (possibly asleep a la dormouse in Alice in Wonderland, but never mind).
Happy Mondays all, hope they are healthy and sober. x

Morning Babes and Mif!

Faire How fab, you have given me such an incentive to start the week with a healthy, and hopefully, slimming eating plan. Well done, you .

Love to all, have a good day everyone.

xxx

X posted!
Morning noteven. I hope your move is as hassle free as it can be. Happy new home . xx

Morning everyone!

Been very busy with dc and outdoor stuff since Fri.
Had one glass of red Fri night,sipped slowly over the evening.
Nothing Sat lunchtime.Three glasses of red whilst watching the bonfire in the garden,then a carefully measured one-shot Irish coffee by the fire.Nothing all day Sunday then one tiny Becks after supper.

This is a big change for me and I feel proud and slightly virtuous,although at the same time,concerned that what could still be seen as a fair amount to some,feels like a big achievement to me.

I haver been active and busy all day,purposely drove out to Cardiff for the day yesterday and not home until late,as I won't drink anything if driving.Walked in the woods all day Sat.

Dc's had a great time and I was connected and present all evening.I have realised that my drinking is a form of disengagement from reality.It takes me three steps back from the intensity of RL. The trouble is,as my tolerance has increased,I have needed more and more to "get there".

I never "got there" at all over the weekend ,which led me to consider what was the point in drinking anything at all.And I haven't found an answer to that yet. I don't crave drink,as such.But I do feel a need to zone out a bit at the end of the day.Or is that the same for everyone?

I am absolutely exhausted today and feel like I want to sleep for a 1000 years.But I am aiming to return to work next Monday so am trying to force myself into a routine in preparation.Dreading it.

Faire - what an inspiration! Same here with weight gain due to drink= overeating junk. Would love to eat healthily.One think at a time,maybe.Nearly died when I saw pics of me from Sat night!

Thank you all for being here.

hello. Can I join you? Been on it 20 years since I was 18. I've hit 20 units a night :( Don't know where to turn

Hi leatherette, of course you can join us. Well done for posting, even that can be tough the first time you do it.

Tell us what you have tried so far? Have you ever tried cutting down? Have you managed to stay abstinent for any time? Only asking so that I can understand what you experience of all that has been.

Who in real life knows about the level of your drinking - family, partner, close friends, your doctor? Is there anyone who you think could help you in real life, and support you in whatever you decide to do.

Many of us on here have found that trying to cut down doesn't work for us. But if you are worried that the amounts that you have been drinking put you at rsik from withdrawal, then you really need some professional help and support while you detox.

But please, just keep posting here, people will be around, we can share our ideas, how we motivate ourselves when we think we can't go on for a minute longer. And we understand.

BOING!!!!!

holiday sorted, off to cuba on wednesday!!!

leatherette, nice to meet you! - do you want to stop drinking altogether or cut down? - personally i think stopping altogether is the only way i could go, i tried for years to 'cut down', i could always kid myself i was drinking less but honestly, it just didnt work and was just pretty exhausting, as time goes by i find it easier and easier to just not drink.

thank you both for your kindness jesuswhat and venus. I have wanted to cut down since I first started. I went to uni and by the end of the first month had gone from nothing to daily drinking and have never looked back really. I was abstinent during my pregnancies. But drank within hours of giving birth. I've doubled what I have been on in a year. My husband is the same as me. :( He wants to stop too. We say we will stop every day and every day something changes around 6pm in my head and it doesnt seem that bad. I've not had a day off in years. Im tired.

Cuba sounds wonderful :)

leather - you sound sick and tired of being sick and tired! - do you think you are alcohol dependent or is it just habit? - tbh, im not sure which i was but i went the way of assuming im an alcoholic simply because otherwise i would have carried on drinking (that sounds pretty kind of fucked up alkie thinking to me! ) - if your drinking is controlling the way you live, even to a small extent then i would go the 'dependent' route and stop altogether.

when do you want to make a start? i know christmas is just round the corner and it can seem like a stupid time to give up, but if you are like me, christmas is just another excuse to carry on drinking, then of course after christmas its new year, then easter, then whitsun, then the summer holidays - see? always a reason to stay shit-faced!

Hello, can join you lovely ladies? Have been lurking for some time but never had the courage to post. My drinking is getting me down, that's it really. Just not enjoying it anymore.

hi ladies i've been absent because i've been fucking up really and not wanting to lie but also not wanting to face up to things. had a bit of a breakthrough yesterday with realising actually this is not normal, normal people do not constantly seek to change their mood/take the edge off/etc etc. i think i may have been in strange denial about how and why i use alcohol and am starting to wake up to myself a bit.

i don't feel like i can be really honest and talk on here as i feel exposed, wondered whether to name change but then that would get confusing. hmm.

i've been thinking that maybe being an alcoholic or an addict isn't what i thought it was that maybe that part of me that is always looking to alter my state with something, to put something in to feel 'better' or 'different' or 'cope' is maybe the crux of what people with substance problems have in common? an inability to just be ok in the now and able to face a range of feelings and states without reaching for something to numb/switch or drown it....

thoughts gratefully received x

Afternoon Babes

JWN - do you want me to come and stand next to you fanning you? Or carry your bags? Or, erm, or, peel your grapes for you? [desperately needs a holida emoticon] I bet you'll have a lovely time xx

Hello blossom - nice to meet you.

My drinking is getting me down, that's it really. Just not enjoying it anymore. - so why do it? Why drink?

Do you think that maybe just for tonight, you could get to 8pm without a drink?

Leather - welcome, you have some wonderful advice here, I'd ask you the same as I did blossom - can you get to 8pm tonight without touching a drop?

BUT - DO YOU REALLY REALLY WANT TO???

Hello to Leather and blossom and nice to hear from you again Piranha

Saf I think it's really important to be able to speak freely here and be as honest as you want. If you need to change your name, do it, and give us a few clues so we know who you are

JWN you lucky, lucky lady x

SaF - I could have written your post. Even down to considering name changing.

Take the edge off - yup.I am thinking that as I get the hang of normal drinking,I will find the next thing that does this.

I remember just after dd3 was born - she is now 9.My marriage to her dad was very miserable and on the rocks. I was lonely and drinking,then discovered my then h had run up huge debts.I found the motivation to stop drinking altogether,applied for a full time senior job which I got ,then set about dieting and took up running.I was very successful at this.....I lost 6 stone,became a size 8 and for 4 years,ran at least 4 miles every morning come rain or shine......

I have been looking back on that time from my current slobby size 18 junk and drink guzzling misery as something to aspire to again.Now I wonder........

Saf so are you saying that you don't need and/or want to drink other than when you are feeling 'needy' for want of a better word. Or do you think you would struggle to go, say, a month without a drink even if everything else in your life felt ok at the time?

Sorry if I haven't put that very sensitvely, just trying to get an idea of what you think. It could be a physical addiction, or an emotional one, or presumably a bit of both.

I find bedtime GHASTLY . I drink fast and deep to deal with exhausted children and a knackered me that's been at work all day. Getting to 8pm will be tough but I guess it's a start. My eyes are dirty looking and my hands now shake - that's new. Are these reversible effects? The shakes are I guess new since the summer - it's that that's made me want to deal with it. I look dreadful

Leather well done on getting this far. It's tough, I know, but you can do this. Have you been to your GP for any health checks or had any advice about stopping completely?

I've been to the gps a few times. I'm on ad's . Makes no difference really. I was on Antabuse for a bit but it didn't prevent me drinking so I stopped. I've wanted to stop for years. But always tomorrow. Went to aa once - lots of childhood issues with religion and simply couldn't handle the god thing. I'm so bloody weak. Gah

Leather

First of all you are NOT weak. What you have been putting yourself through day in, day out takes a lot of strength and determination.

Does your GP know how much you have been drinking. Honestly? The alcohol will interfere with the ADs.

If you went to AA once and it wasn't for you, how about trying a different meeting. I haven't been but from what others have said, meetings can be vastly different sometimes. I know that you don't need to have a religion to attend.

We really need MIFLAW here. Can I give a shout out for MIFLAW if you're around to advise on AA please?

Anyway, Leather just stick with us this evening and we can help you avoid the alcohol. Is there any in the house at the moment?

This is when I drink - my kids are impossible at bedtime. I hate it. My heart is thundering with irritation - bedtime goes on andon and on. I desperately want peace after a long hard day at work but it's world war 3 and they are constantly nagging 'mama mama mama insert inane request'. I refuse to look irritated or snap so I neck half of a bottle of wine like a pill take a deep breath and smile sweetly and do happy mummy impression. I'm so tired.