The Brave Babes Battle Bus - Wading Through Winter Blues Without The Booze!

[Mouseface]

I'm Mouse, nice to meet YOU.

This is a thread for those who want to give up drink completely, or are maybe thinking about doing controlled drinking, or cutting down slowly, it's all up to you. And of course all addictions, so if you are taking drugs of any kind, prescription or otherwise, you're very welcome here too!

You know your limits, you know what is required, it's all in YOUR hands.

Whatever your goal, you'll find unconditional support here. Always. :)

There will be talk of drinking quite often and those who fall off the Bus will post about it, so if that is going to jeopardise your chances of complete sobriety, then maybe the DRY threads would suit you better, as they are complete abstainers, but EVERYONE IS WELCOME HERE :)

There are two sayings that we rather like here -

1. • The Vulnerable Need Our Support, Not Our Judgement
2. • Alcohol Fosters Inertia

For those of you who'd like some history, here is the very first thread and the reason that we're all here now. FIRST EVER THREAD

And the most recent so you can work your way back through time IS JUST HERE

The Bus may be 'mythical', but the support is real, it is honest and it will help you to achieve what it is that YOU seek, as long as you are honest with us, but mostly, YOURSELF

Mouse xxx

Woffle woffle woffle thanks for Bday wishes, all over for another year. The years do seem to be flying by. I seriously do need to make the most of my days it seemed only yesterday that it was previous birthday. Then I get all maudlin about where did that year go, what have I achieved, my DDs are getting older, am I really doing the best for them yadda yadda yadda. So this year I'm going to be more conscious of what we're doing with our time I can't wait to move, where we are is really damp and my joints have started to ache, I think from the damp I'm also sharing bed with DD1 which is now taking it's toll. We go from her saying good night peasant ( I know) to her saying give me a hug in the morning bloody teenagers How are your DS's Beaches?

Hi beaches good to see you
So, once I got everyone out of my bed, I went to the beach up the East Coast. It was grey bit the sun was trying to break through. I walked on empty beaches and collected shells and sea glass and stones. I climbed to the lighthouse and up the cliff to the ruined watchtower. There was a bench which said "a bench for Robbie" on it so I stayed a while and listened to the waves and drank in the solitude. I left a shell for Robbie as a thank you for using his bench and then in the small town I had a Guinness, just because I could, and sat on the sea wall and thought, this is what it is like to be happy. And I was. And then a woman next to me began reciting a poem to her baby - ee Cummings "Maggie and Milly and Molly and May, went down to the beach to play one day.....which ends with the line " for whoever we lose (like a you or a me) its always ourselves we find in the sea" and I got something in my eye and wanted to thank her but thought she would have thought I was a weirdo so I didn't.
So I came home and had coffee cake with cream and both my tummy and my soul have been replenished.

I am a namechanger from another very different thread, who has started facing up to the fact that she is slowly killing herself with the "wine o'clock" attitude, which comes around every single day. Well, I knew it all along but I have recently hit a big birthday (last year) and realise that I have been drinking heavily for so many years (bar when I was pregnant and breast feeding). I have a stressful life (not saying too much as to identify myself in any way) and lots of anxieties and worries, always a good excuse for a drink. Or instead, the fact that something has gone well...or that friends are around...or that they are not...that it is good weather....it isn't good weather....etc etc you get the picture of course.

I have not drunk for three days now, the most I have ever managed in four years. Sounds like not much but it's been hard. I have bought all kinds of different drinks to have instead at my usual evening drinking time (beetroot juice, berry juices, lime and ginger etc) and am enjoying them.

My goal is not complete abstinence but very limited drinking on weekends and special occasions. Can I join?

Welcome silver ring and bloody well done on 3 days. I haven't managed 3 days in a long time.
It can be quiet here at weekends but stick with us and someone will be along soon.

ma your day sounds so peaceful and reflective

Hello and welcome to silverring, this thread will fill up soon but follow this link to the new one and stick with us. Well done on 3 days, we do understand what an achievement that is. Beetroot juice? I haven't tried that one.

Hi spanna and beaches and everyone else. Hope to catch up with you more on the new thread but please remember to fill this one up first.

Hi everyone
I have t drank for over 2 years now- nearly two and a half actually. I feel good about this, but I have been having dreams of drinking and the odd urge too. This worries me as I hope to never drink again, a day at a time. I just feel maybe I am becoming a little too laid back about it all? Or perhaps it is good i just happily not drink and not analyse it too much .

I used to attend AA a lot, but sadly where I now live the AA is not good at all.

How do you lot keep off the booze- and keep happy and same more to the point! :)

I am open minded and interested to hear what works for others ...

Haven't *
Sane*

Sorry!

I have heard (who knows if it is really true) that beetroot juice is a good liver detoxer! Whether that is true or not, it looks like red wine so no-one else needs to know I am not drinking (good for parties etc as I don't feel like having to justify myself, and friends all heavy red wine drinkers, as was I), and it is not sweet like most fruit juices, which I find get a bit cloying after the second glass.

ma that sounds wonderful- I really like that poem.
Hope you still feel relaxed and calm.

Hi guggs
Yes have rounded off a lovely day with two glasses of wine,cork in the bottle to keep the rest And am off to bed shortly.

Spanna The boys are good, thank you for asking. They have been reluctant helpers toady as we are having a realtor over tomorrow to value the house. About to start all the madness of house selling but first the mass tidy up . Wow, sharing a bed with a teenager, not ideal but having a morning cuddle sounds good. I really hope the flat gets sorted soon flower, perhaps because of all the hiccups then the prize of moving in will be even more joyous

Ma your day sounds pretty idyllic, love the image of you sat on Robbie's bench and leaving a shell for him.

Hi Silvering and welcome. Sorry but all I can think of is beetroot juice = pink pee . Well done on those first 3 days, I always think they are the toughest.

odaat 2 and a half years is incredible, no ideas on why you have started dreaming about drinking. I have not done more than a few months but it does make me think of smoking. I gave up around 5 years ago and every now and again I will go through a spell of thinking about it, imagining doing it and even taking an imaginary drags. It seems to bother me for a week or so and then passes away again. No very helpful, but perhaps a similar phase?

Hi to guggs and faire and all other beautiful babes

Welcome silvering and well done for being brave and posting

Hello odaat - what a great username!

ma sounds like a beautiful day. If I'm going up to Aberdeen sometime, can I drop in past you on the way?

Beaches good luck with the realtor today what are your plans are you moving far? Glad boys are good. X

Well I didn't see my friend as planned so I am on Day 2 today. Got a bit grumpy last night but I think that was down to my body expecting alcohol and that recovery process that AF days have. So I made a hot choc and went to bed. I'm not intending to drink today

It's a wet day here so I think it may be a DVD day

Ma loved that lady's poem. Sea glass is a favourite of mine we don't get alot of it down south. I hope you have another peaceful day today and that they're not all coming back too early

Have a great Sunday whatever that brings. Waves at Nuff Hope Isinde Mouse I'm Why Rural Baby Joey Guggs Soc and all you other lovely Brave Babes xxx

Thanks Beaches :) I have the same with ciggies too, so yes maybe it is just a phase (though I haven't quit long! Well done on 5 years :D
Alias- thankyou, I love the username too but sadly struggle to live by it , haha
Spanna - well done in not drinking yesterday. A hot choc is a really good idea- plenty of sugar helps in the early days as your body is used to sugar from all the booze we drank!

In the early days I are copious amounts of Mars bars!
I never regret waking up and no drinking. I bet you dont either :)

My trouble is convincing people i cant drink at all! They just struggle to comprehend this fact, (most do)
Do others find this? I feel like if i told them all the awful escapades they just may listen, but Jesusi wouldn't wanna inflict that on anyone haha

Hello babes Sunday, and yet again have a ton of work to do that I couldn't complete in the week. I want to go out and have fun with dd (just her and me today) and I feel mulish and resentful, but know if I don't do it then I will not cope at all with next week which is looking horrendous with 2 very long London days, plus a day's media tour and half day media call, yet I will still be expected to complete the same amount of work I am expected to complete in five days in the office (staying late for at least 3). Plus we got a long email from our director asking us not to provide any feedback that is negative as we are being perceived as moaners, and please carefully read all our reports and emails and remove anything that isn't positive. So I guess sending her one saying I have a headache Monday to Friday and am so stressed I can't sleep on Sunday nights is out then?

Ma your weekend sounds lovely, especially the beach. I agree with Isinde's post with words from her wise friend. I need to stop drinking long enough to find myself and claim my place, but am in a vicious circle at the moment with ridiculously stressful life. Am always feeling guilty about short-changing someone.

Isinde how are things with you? You sound like a superwoman, but I wish you had someone to lean on at home. What does your OH say when you bring it up? Am wishing you well and hoping you get some me time this weekend

Beaches, Spanna - lovely to see you ladies, you have been missed! Good luck with your moves and belated happy birthday to Spanna

Welcome to Silver, hey there to Guggs and Faire and inspiring Odaat, waves to lovely Mouse, Baby, Anne and Joey and sorry to anyone I have missed out. Hoping that I'm and Why are OK and if you are lurking l send you all my love (and have hidden some opal fruits for you on the new thread)

Finally, liked the sound of Ma's poem so much I looked it up and am posting here in full so you can all enjoy it. It stirs up so many feelings in me.

I hope this is the year I find myself.... I hope we all do.

Thank you Ma

maggie and milly and molly and may went down to the beach(to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,

and milly befriended a stranded star whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:

and may came home with a smooth round stone as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me) it's always ourselves we find in the sea

Hope thank you for your lovely post your work sounds manic to say the least . When work was manic for me, I had a friend who used to remind me that my DD's were only young once and you only get a short time until they become revolting teenagers (as my 15 yo DD1 now is!!!) Even if it's an hour that you walk away from the work and have some time with DD. You will feel better, she'll have had time with her mummy and you can go back to it later In the end I sold my company, had a year off and then did a degree - my DD's are sick to the back teeth of me now

xx

NEW THREAD FOR WHEN THIS IS FULL

I'll be back in a mo xxx

Right...

I'm going...

To...

Shut this...

Baby down...

Big time!

SO I'LL SEE YOU ON THE NEW THREAD WHICH YOU CAN GET TO BY CLICKING ON THIS TEXT :)