The Brave Babes Battle Bus - New Year, New Start, The Journey So Far.........

[Mouseface]

Hello, I'm Mouse

Welcome. There are all kinds of lovely Babes on board this Bus, drinkers, non-drinkers, part-time drinkers and those who have no idea what they are when it comes to drinking. Some are newer posters and some have been here forever for a little while.

Come and say hi, there are no rules, no 'must haves', just plenty of open and honest support.

You can talk about whatever you like. Your life, your love or even your laundry. We've seen it all!

The important thing is that you can post if you want to, or not if you don't. There are posters in AA and posters who are using medication to beat The Booze and of course posters who are just trying to cut their drinking down with the support of The Bus and the people around them.

See where we've been so far by following this ---> LINK TO PREVIOUS THREADS HERE

day 7!

fairenuff. you hit the nail on the head there :) exsisting is not living life. When i am drinking i am just ploughing through and its not enough. Thats why i really want to stop so i can get back to enjoying life.

I hate drinking and i hate stopping drinking but love how it is when i have stopped properly. need to get back there.

Day 8

I agree with the functioning alcoholic being a label I have used in my head to make myself feel better although I wasn't functioning I was existing as others have said

fairenuff ....bloody well done

rainqueen ....bloody well done

fuzzymind .....bloody well done

never saw the panorama thing but if 4 to 8 bottles a week is liver damaging then I think I need to go for a liver test....

venus juggling, thank-you very much, you really are all helping me so much to take my head out of the sand

I'm definitely challenging my mindset of I'm an adult, I can do what I want' which really is unbelievably immature but thats is what I'm struggling with

horses not innapropriate at all

Hello everyone, please may I join you?

I've been working my way through this whole thread - I'm currently on page 27 but just felt like making a post to hop on the bus with you.

Today is day 10 of being sober for me and this is the longest I have ever gone without alcohol since I was a teenager, so nearly thirty years.

I'm going to continue to read through all the rest of the posts and then I shall come back and say hello again and tell you a bit more about my story.

Best wishes to you all.

Hello NP an welcome to the bus . Well done on day 10, keep it up. And well done fuzzy and rain. Carry on like that and you will soon feel The Boing I'm sure .

Morning All

venus, Faire Fuzzy and mouse your posts have really struck a chord.

Faire not sure what is going on really, feel in a bit of a fog. LittleMissGee is doing well, work is good (well busy, which is going to help with the bills), DH is lovely as always and being incredibly helpful with both work and DD. I just feel a bit flat part of the time and panicky other times. I am feel like its all ok on the surface and underneath i'm just about holding it together. Anyway, LittleMissGee is just telling me off for not catering to her whims, so better go.

Today is Day One. Today I will not be drinking x

Oh - and I saw this the other night and thought of you all - I can't edit it but its the guy speaking at a NA meeting on The Wire (love the show). His bit is about 1.15 into the scene.

It really struck me ... I thought I was strong but the wine is fucking out there doing push ups every second and is stronger than me.

Horses good for you, and I am glad that you are not alcoholic and enjoy your weekends without feeling any ill effects. Just not an option for some people is it? I still love the company of drinkers, it would be a dull world if we were all the same.

As for the term functioning alcoholic, that is all it is, a term. Not got to the point of not being able to function, that is look after yourself and your family. Not a question of living, it is about the quality of life. I think the titles Yummy Mummy, Chavs, Nerds and Geeks are bloody ridiculous, but just a description. In the end with me it was the fear of life that kept me drinking. Nan Robertson, Pulitzer Prize winner, and famed throughout AA, has a husband who put it very well, 'When Nan is drinking she goes into a room and pulls the shades down.'

As I am 12 years sober, I find myself to be quite abnormal in today's society, but that's fine with me too.

Well done to Fuzzy, Rain and anyone else that is feeling good about themselves, that's what matters really.

Morning all.

I had a lot to drink last night. I am not going to drink today.

I was thinking earlier that I feel a lot braver in the Spring. Today feels like Spring - the sun is shining and the birds are singing. I know I don't want to continue limiting my life through drinking any more.

So, day one again. Life is out there :)

welcome NP
Crap, on those figures my liver must be shot to shit. Must try harder.
mouse thank you for your kind words. being miserable is not an excuse for drinking though. Again:
Must
Try
Harder

I'm so glad I didn't offend anyone last night, and I genuinely want to support the babes on this bus.

I drank a bottle of white last night and feel fine today but if I drink for consecutive nights I feel my mood lowering and I don't like it.....

I watched the Panorama program because since I started following this thread I am interested in alcohol and how it affects people. I have a friend with what I believe to be an unhealthy relationship with alcohol - very few nights off, quantities that far exceed the recommended guidelines - but she is in denial and can justify her health/weight/behaviour and it's never ever down to the amount she drinks ....

My own drinking is basically weekends and occasions and that's the way I like it! I love that feeling of looking forward to a glass of wine because for me it is a treat.....

Sarah I know exactly what you are saying and that is why I'm never sure whether to post or not . I am acutely aware that I am not alcoholic and I don't want to rub that in anyone's face but I was trying to add some perspective from a 'normal drinker'......

I actually know a few people that don't drink at all - one of my friends has never really drunk, another has an alcoholic parent and doesn't want to tread the same path..... I don't think they are odd at all, honestly.

You sound like you followed a difficult path but 12 years sober is a fantastic was to have turned your life around, and helping others to do the same thing is special.

Hey MsGee I will have a look at that link later but I need to go out for a bit just now. The sun is shining here, it's warm. I dragged the dcs out into the garden for some vitamin d, courtesy of the sun . (They liked being out in it really). How it lifts the spirits after a long, dark, cold winter .

If ever there was a day for loving life and living life it's today. I hope you all get some of this lovely sunshine. It's a good day for Day 1 and we are all on Day 1 today, as we are every day really. One day at a time.

Tra la la x

Afternoon, tis me, Mouse

Just very quickly and then I'll read back.....venus

Now, I'm going to post something controversial.

I think the whole "functional alcoholic" is a load of BOLLOCKS.

SPOT ON!!!

To me, your not a "functioning (highly or otherwise) alcoholic" - YOU'RE GETTING AWAY WITH IT.

I totally agree with you venus. I hate when people hide behind that label and let's be really honest, it's one that they give themselves isn't it?

Off to read back...........

Horses - don't ever feel that you would be inappropriate on here, jeez, some of the stuff that we've had here of the last (coming up for) 2 years would blow your socks off!

Seriously, it's an open forum, for being open. In the past, when I have found a poster's situation 'difficult' shall we say, I've walked away from the conversation.

You should feel free to post what you like, not everyone will agree with you or me all of the time. But that's life isn't it? xx

Ma

My kind words to you are because I can feel the pain and sadness in your posts some days. Stuck in a loveless relationship with a huge dose of the 'Same Four Walls Syndrome' the moment you get home from work.

I do hope for better days for you my friend xx

Trinity - well done on refusing the wine.

It's all too easy to say YES when someone is offering to go and buy it for you, meaning you don't even have to leave the house, get dressed, think about finding shoes, or even finding an excuse to be leaving the house other than to buy the wine........

Go YOU! xx

Thanks mouse

I'm at a serious trigger time at the mo though

going to get stuck into my OU coursework

happy sunday to all

Thanks Mouse, however having read back I sound smug and self-satisfied when I was aiming for sympathetic and supportive . Sorry guys.

Have a lovely Sunday everyone. Who else is being subjected to watching the cup final? I live in a Liverpool supporting house, so as soon as my boys are home that will be that!

MsGee - great clip, thank you for posting that, I found the lines about having 'One More High in me but maybe NOT One More Recovery' very powerful.

I hope that one day we'll all realise that maybe that's the case for us? Who knows where addiction will/could take us?

we are a rugby house, cant stand football

Don't be daft Horses - that's not what I read at all! Please don't be xx

I'm with you on that Trinity - where are you really then if not here?

How was last night for you in the end? Did you manage to stick to what you'd had?

I had one glass of red in the end and then bed. So, on a Saturday night, I had two ciders and 1 glass of red.

I'm happy with that.

I stuck with what I'd said, two vodka and cokes, one at three o'clock, one at 8 o/clock

I'm not here cause I'm getting stuck into my coursework....honest