The Brave Babes Battle Bus - Starting the Summer Filled With Luscious Mocktails.

[Mouseface]

Hello, I'm Mouse and I used to drink far too much. Too much vodka to be exact, then too much wine, then too much cider....... you can imagine how it went.

This Bus is full of people like me, and people like you actually. Sober people, drinkers, a few not surers, and those who are simply 'somewhere'.

The one thing that we have in common is that we can/do/did/will abuse alcohol.

Some for a number of years, some months, some for their entire adult (and before) lives.

The support here is for everyone. Those in AA, those who are taking medication to help, those going it alone, those with the support of others. We're all here for the same reason.

Why not come and say hello? We are all so very different in our every day lives but we all have a common theme.....

And, for those who want to see where all of this began 2 years ago, HERE IS a link to all of the past Bus rides.

Ah lovely Mia you are so right. Two glasses with supper? Pah! I drink to get hammered (or just full of happy happy joy joy) so will stick with my antabuse buddy Hopefully and not drink. Indefinitely. Glad you had a good weekend.

Alfie slept peacefully in his crate all night and when I went down to let him out he bounced out and licked me all over the face! Tis love...And have just come back from bracing walk in the rain and said hello to loads of other dog-walkers, a new life, feels as if I'm in a parallel universe. A good one. Imagine doing that hungover. Nightmare....

So sorry about your migraine Joey, if it keeps happening go to your GP, there are effective meds I believe. It's not Alfie that's the problem really, he's fine with the cat - it's the other way round! Never mind, for the time-being it's upstairs/downstairs (her up, him down) and I'm letting her sleep on my bed which she adores. Have a great day everyone, onwards and upwards xx

Ahhh - Sunday lunch. Full tummy and feeling sleepy. Is there anything better than this feeling?

Afternoon, tis me, Mouse

Just popping in as I'm in the middle of baking a fresh cream strawberry sponge cake for after our roast chicken dinner. I am the new Delia! I bake nearly every day at the moment and each thing I make is getting better and better as I learn a few tricks along the way.

Sorry not to catch up but I wanted to send Alfie a big hug and give him a little treat as a huge welcome to the Bus. Seth has made space for him and promised to make sure he has plenty of water for the journey ahead.

Joey - sorry to see that you are suffering, please get that checked out, migraines are evil things and need dealing with xx

Soma - I found that once we got Seth (you need to bold Alfie's name as he's one of the passengers on this Bus now) we made a whole new group of friends who we'd never even seen before!!

A lot of people are intimidated by Seth which I understand totally, but once people get to know him, they find out just how gentle he is. His nature is so very placid, we spent weeks and a lot of money getting the best training for him and making sure that his life with us is the best that it can be.

I'm sure you'll be the same . And don't worry about the cat, our cat is and outdoors cat but at first, she hated Seth so would sleep in DH's office, now they are fine together, she knows she can out run him and climb up stuff he can't so he doesn't bother anymore!

Right, lots of love to you all, I need to go and baste the chicken, might pop later if I can move after all this food I'm cooking!!!

Mouse xx

knackered
Ran my second Race for Life this year and knocked 4 minutes of my last time so did the 5K in 39 minutes! i am well chuffed, especially as the training had gone out of the window over the last few weeks and i was planning on walking some of this one. But I got to 2K and thought I would stop at 3, then I got to 3 and thought I wasn't that far from 4........the last few hundred nearly did for me though. Who puts the finish line at the top of a bloody grassy slope??
REally had to struggle not to slow to a walk at that point but I got there in the end.
48, overweight and a pisshead but can still jog for 39 minutes

Well done ma - that's more than I could do (39 seconds would be a struggle ). Are you fundraising?

yeah, for Cancer Research - have nearly £1000 now!

well done ma thats brilliant!

thanks babes for the advice about the migraines, tbh I don't usually get them so I'm hoping it was just the weather or something.

Went to my parents for lunch - usually a reason for having a drink when I got home. Now I've found out how illogical that is, because if you work yourself up to thinking something is stressful & you can't cope then its like you've engineered 'needing' to have a drink (I don't know if this is making sense...)

Imagine if we'd got home at 4pm, but I still wouldn't have had a drink till 9pm - I'd have spent FIVE HOURS just waiting for it.

I think I'm starting to have little boings...

Wow, I soooooooo shouldn't have made an observation here, should I! Defensive much?? Or was I being smug? I thought my disclaimers covered to the point of overload why I wasn't being smug. I feel like that's given me a bit of a lightbulb moment, tbh, about how defensive some people are about drinking!

Have drunk slowly but steadily tonight, which was planned (though not necessarily a good thing) as I feel this is my 'night off' after a challenging (but really enjoyable) couple of days. I know that's not very healthy, but it's a big change for me that this is the exception rather than the rule.

G'night Babes xxx

Keep going babe, you will feel the boing! I've accepted that by drinking tonight I'm sacrificing the boing tomorrow and poss the next day. That alone is a step forward for me.

mia I had already posted on that thread, and I agree with what you posted. There is a emoticon, which would be really appropriate loads of time when people are worried or upset, yet on here (AND in real life) society tends more towards offering than .

Someone posted about mn "everyone is judgmental about so many things such as ready meals, fruit shoots etc but very defensive about drinking alcohol".

Interesting.

and I noticed that MNHQ jumped in at one point with an amusing comment about gin. I pm'ed them about that. They don't comment on baby names or school gate alpha mums, and I think it just goes to show how insidious the 'alcohol is fun and OK' message is

Venus I've just cross posted with you there and missed the MNHQ post. I'll go and find it.

I was only trying to make the point that drinking is totally normalised to the point that not drinking when you're stressed out seems the oddity now. I really wasn't meaning to criticise as I'm totally not out of those woods at all and still drinking at what many would consider an unhealthy level. Just making an observation really, and it's brought it home to me that the reluctance to see that your behaviour might be a problem signifies that it probably is!

Maybe it's just my over-analytical and critical personality, but even in the greatest throes of my drink and drug consumptions, I could always acknowledge that this really wasn't the best course of action. I might have still decided to do so, but I always wanted to be aware of what shit I was spinning to my own mind!

Just read some of that other thread; since I started posting here I've noticed that alcohol culture is everywhere I don't think its just MN, it's all over.

Someone on here mentioned that certain cultures like Muslim and Hindu don't drink - they must be sickened by some of our excesses I think. I've just read an advert in a magazine for a weekend break or something 'including free champagne!' I probably wouldn't have noticed it before - now I see it everywhere.

I don't think MNetters are particularly alcoholic, they just reflect our society & on the bus we're just more aware.

mia I posted on page 4 and MNHQ posted on page 5 (if you're looking to find them).

I suppose the thing that is really easy to forget is that HERE on this wonderful thread, almost every post is supportive and understanding and helpful and considerate. On AIBU you may be facing cynicism and ridicule and defensiveness. But don't let that move you from your observation mia, Yes, people do normalise drinking, and some of us on here got horribly caught up in that and ignored the worrying warning signs for too long. Thank fuck there has been some help and support on here for those of us who are around.

joey you are right - and look at the increase in 'all inclusive' holidays - which basically means free cheap booze (as well as free food) - who would have thought of that 20 years ago?

Blimey Venus... really well put and thoughtful post, and you were completely ignored, and then MNHQ puts a (totally unnecessary) post which ups the drinking ante! I can understand the drinking defensiveness on the thread, but why did MNOlivia feel the need to participate? Or did I miss something?

Bit of an eye opener for me tbh... I was always a bit 'yeah yeah I can see this isn't a good plan but fuck it', but to totally deny that it's an inadvisable course of action in the first place... I'm just not getting that!! Do people have that little self-awareness?

Alcohol has totally been normalised in our society, probably more so in Britain than any other culture. It's everywhere, it's offered in all sorts of situations (like when JWN was in shock) and I certainly notice it more now that I am conscious of it.

When I used to drink a lot, there was always an opportunity to buy alcohol. They sell it at petrol stations and in theatres, serve it at weddings and funerals. It is sold as the 'wonder' drug that can pick you up, calm you down, cure all your ills. And we fall for it. We all bought that line even though it clearly did not do us any good at all.

But it's something you have to see for yourself I think. It's very difficult to explain to others who don't 'get' it, either because they are in denial or they just don't have the same problem with it. One thing I really want to try and do is teach my dcs that it's not actually that normal and hope that they make different, more healthy choices than I did.

I feel so wise

But am still not getting to bed any earlier!

G'night babes!

Morning!

I have been up for some time with DD who sneaked downstairs at 5.30, then cried because she was lonely

I drank again this weekend. Slight concern about slipping into old ways but I didn't drink last night and won't now until work is done for the week.

I have a Lot of Work to finish before the end of Thursday, then I've got a week off. So I might not be around too much. On one had I feel guilty for not giving back as this thread has helped me a great deal. On the other it's nice for RL to be in the way (iykwim) and questions about drinking not to be taking up too much of my time.

Anyway, today I won't be drinking.

Venus I posted on that thread as well :) A couple of pages earlier than you, trying to explain the difficulties of alcohol. Totally ignored. Do you think we were like that in our hardened drinking phase? I think I may have been.

Morning all. I'm a person here, And think I will need some help and support in my new teetotal life. I found you a few weeks ago when I had a ridiculous binge at a friends birthday, and suffered for 3 days.
I have used (abused) alcohol now for 10 years, and yesterday took the momumentous decision to not have a drink for one year. I wrote it down and gave it to DP as a pledge if you will. I had been doing well in recent weeks and months cutting down my alcohol consumption, but a leaving do at work on Thursday and meeting up with old drinking buddies on Saturday meant I felt like shit yesterday again and was not functioning. I thought I had it under control but clearly not.
I hope all you brave ladies are ok. I've taken the day off as dd is not well, and also using some quiet time to reflect on my new found sobriety.

Welcome aggis let us know how you are getting on, there is usually someone around with good advice if you are finding things tough, or if you're wondering about facing a big social occasion.

good morning everyone and welcome to aggis

Morning everyone

I hope you are all well. Im fair to middling here, still not sure if the Prozac is working yet, I kind of feel dazed and confused most days and struggle to act "normal" at weekends when family are around.

Haven't been totally alcohol free but have found I just cannot handle drink at all, two glasses of slowly sipped red wine on Saturday night had me ready for bed very quickly, but I think its the Prozac again. Grateful in a way that the meds are affecting my alcohol intake but I don't want to be on them forever.

H isn't being the most supportive really, he is still drinking. Had a landlord visit this weekend and he bought us a present of a bottle of red wine!

Not heard from community outreach team yet.

Boing!

Feeling fine this morning, when I expected to feel jaded and a bit rubbish. I've been drinking vast quantities of water on this diet so maybe I didn't get as dehydrated as I would normally when drinking. Also, Mondays are usually the day of the cummulative hangover from drinking to excess Friday, Sat and Sunday, whereas this was must last night. Anyhow, am facing another week of low carbing and no drinking feeling FINE!

Welcome Aggis.

Sorry to hear you're feeling a bit low Limit when did you start the prozac? It takes around three weeks to get used to it and start really feeling the benefits. If it's been longer than that tell your GP and try a different one. It's a pain having to chop and change but when you find the one that suits you you will feel better, I promise. Not drinking too much lets them do their job, too (something I really wish I'd taken on board a long time ago!).