The Brave Babes Battle Bus - Soaking Up The Warm Sunshine, Instead Of The Warm White Wine!

[Mouseface]

Hi, I'm Mouse :)

Welcome to The Brave Babes Battle Bus.

A place for pouring out your heart without being judged, mostly because a lot of us have been exactly where you are right now, or somewhere similar.

We've been around for a while, so there's not much that we've not seen..... or heard.... or been through ourselves.

Some of the Babes are newer to the Bus, some of the Babes have been here on dear old "Gerald" (The name this Bus was given by one of the Babes, I forget who now!I suspect IsinDe or Silver) for a little while longer!

EVERYONE is welcome here. Drinkers, those who are complete non drinkers, and those who are somewhere in the middle of all of the above. :)

Some Babes are in control of their drinking, some not so much. It's dreadfully hard some days, days when there is nothing going around your head except thinking that you MUST have a drink and you sit there trying to work out when, what time you can have that first mouthful of ice cold poison.

Whatever your goal here, or why you're here, we'll all help you along the way, YOUR WAY.

There will be one of us on here that can relate to your life story as if it were a mirror they were looking at, someone to hold your hand if you want it, catch you if you fall, which you may or may not. Positive thinking, just One Day At A Time.

No one Babe is better than any other, we've all been addicts. We've all suffered, yes some more than others but it's not a competition (and no-one gets turned away) but if you rack up shed loads of sober days, you will be a winner on the thread!!

So, if you want somewhere safe to sit and enjoy the warming summer sun, come find a seat, have a chat or just sit and listen to the rest of us yakking on!!

Nice to meet you :) all.

Also, here is the latest thread -

THE LATEST THREAD WE'VE SHARED OUR STORIES AND EXPERIENCES ON

And this is the very first thread -

AND THIS THREAD, THIS THREAD IS EXTREMELY SPECIAL BECAUSE THIS IS WHERE THE JOURNEY STARTED, AND HAS SINCE EVOLVED OVER THE LAST SIX YEARS

Hope to chat soon, Mousey x

Thank you so much. Family just returned with flowers and get well card. Can't believe how lovely they are. Will use tummy bug to have drink free day. It's my birthday on Thursday and I have two consecutive nights out planned. I know once I feel better I'll be at the booze again. Feel pickled. Any tips for managing first few days?

First few days are tough pop.I am living proof of that. However, have no alcohol in the house and plenty of substitutes. Have some sweets for the sugar craving. If you can get out for a walk( nowhere near the shops) or an exercise class that will help. Something to do with your hands - colouring in, knitting, crafting, jigsaw etc. Early bed is a big help but bear in mind the first few nights may be poor sleep as you detox. The babes will be here to help. A few of us are going for dry September and will short each other.

Support each other!!!!!

Thanks. This stomach bug will help ( weirdly) as literally can't face a drink. But I am honestly terrified of saying I'll never drink again. I'd like to achieve no drinking at all Monday to Thursday then controlled at the weekend but part of me is thinking whilst I type 'who am I kidding?' Just been on holiday with extended family and drank two pints plus bottle of wine per night ( occasionally more) no wonder feeling pickled. Am going to aim for four days alcohol free until birthday. Have the kids so won't get to exercise but will pick that up when school starts again on non working days. So relieved to feel non judgemental vibes here.

We are a lot of things on here,but judgemental ain't one of them!
Barking mad now.....

Evening All

Welcome Pop you're very welcome here you'll get some good support and advice on this lovely bus. Take one minute one day at a time and be kind to yourself

Feeling a bit Meh I have to work tomorrow although a Bank Holiday down Sarf, care homes stop for no-one

Hope you're all having a good evening x

Hi, can I join too? Been hunting all over mumset for this thread and have finally found you all! I'm on day 4. I think I have a flu thats been made much worse by alcohol withdrawal. I've had a problem for years but I've done some things lately I'm ashamed of and I really need some support to get this under control. I have three kids and a marriage in trouble (for other reasons) and i need to do better. I'd like to think that I can become a social drinker but I'm not sure if thats possible. I've resolved to give up for a month and then will reassess.

Morning all.

I fell asleep just after I posted yesterday afternoon. At 7.30, DH poked me and said "go to bed". So I did , and slept and slept and slept until about an hour ago. Still, I obviously needed it., body and brain have a lot of healing to do.

A warm welcome to Snowball too. As Ma said to Pop, be prepared with sweet stuff and snacks, they really help; and don't beat yourself up about how much you eat, one thing at a time, it's the booze that will kill you first (is that an old bit of MIFLAW* wisdom, Babes?). You can cut down on the sweets once the worst of the cravings subside. But in the meantime, start identifying your pressure points so that even if you can't avoid them, you can interrupt the wine witch when she starts whispering. For me, it's the kitchen between 4 & 6 pm, Eddie Mair on the radio. Of course, I can and do/did drink at any time, but if I can get past that, I'm generally good for the rest of the evening.

If you're feeling ill anyway, Snow, just ride it out and pretend it's all flu , you've already got past the dreaded day three - a lot of us have problems with that; if you can get through day seven (not so far away now), you might have another wobble, but you will be beginning to feel and see the benefits.

Day 19 for me, and I've started it really well with a commission for a book review (YAH!), but I have put on half a kilo (BOOH), so, no more chocolate hobnobs for me .

And tomorrow is the start of 'Dryathon" - I forget which charity - so people in RL will be less likely to question abstinance. After that, another charity is promoting Sober October. You don't have to join in officially, but these things do help.

Spanna, have a good day at work. Isinde, how are you doing?

Day 19 is brilliant sweet and well done on the book commission. Day 1 here, fed up feeling bloated and groggy and generally crap. The WW can fuck right off. I have had enough.

I think this summer's low light levels are part of the problem, Ma- not to down play all of the other stresses in your life - and you're fighting that infection.

Where are you with the HRT? I was listening to an Inside Health (radio four) podcast from a couple of months ago that was discussing HRT. They were saying that there was a lot of concern about it, but in the last year or so, more research has pointed to the benefits of short term (up to five years) replacement, particularly for flushes and bone health; and that the serious side effects are only really associated with taking it for more than ten years.

How did it go at the docs ma ?

Morning. I'm up and about after that tummy bug and already hearing the whisper of booze tonight. However I have just declared to DP that I'm having another alcohol freer as my tummy isn't all there yet so I am committed! Will be my first booze free bank holiday ever ( apart from pregnancies) if I manage it. Going to go to tesco and buy nice alcohol free drinks and healthy food. Might commit to sober for October too. Good advice about hiding behind/ being motivated by those charity things .....

Well done, Pop, being prepared with alternatives is essential. I like fevertree naturally light ginger beer. It's got a bit of a kick, and isn't zero cal, so it's more satisfying than diet drinks, but not 'full fat'. At £1.70 a bottle, it's not cheap for a soft drink, but it's pennies compared to beer and wine, or what ever your tipple was.

I've also got an app called 'I'm done drinking', which just keeps tabs on my AF days, and how much I've saved.

Hello, hello lovely babes!

I've missed you.

I've been absent because we've been moving house. We've now moved and finally have internet again. I didn't realise quite how reliant I was on googling and online shopping!

I'd love to say I stayed sober through the stresses, highs and lows of moving but that would be a big fat lie.

However, I'm on Day 3 today and feeling good.

Now going to go back and catch up on all the pages I missed!

Good afternoon lovely babes, NC-ed after all the hoohah. I'm the crazy cat lady with the shift working DP. Didn't post that often, as I was permanently on day 1. It's all been a bit boozy these last few weeks, and both DP & I need to get our shit together before we get married, or we're going to look like footballs in the photos!
The plan is to have a sober September, and then hit the diet HARD once the booze is out of my system. I can hardly walk at the moment because of the wine weight, my DB text me yesterday, he's nearly a foot taller than me, and the same weight as I am, and due to allergies, is needing to quit booze and lose weight. So I think I'm going to stop drinking in solidarity with him - we've both picked up some terrible food & alcohol related disorder-edness from our DParents.

Well, that was strange - DP just came in wielding a units / calorie calculator, and gave it to me. So I told him my plan, and he looked incredibly relieved. We're due to be going on a holiday with friends at the end of the month, and we talked about how we were going to negotiate the booze side of things. Given that we'll be in a hotel room without cats vying for our attention, I think we can happily say we'll be otherwise engaged .

Welcome back, Cat, you don't have to stop posting just keep on giving up, one day it will stick.

Oops, missed you , April, hope you're settling into the new home.

Hey all. Hope you're having a good bank holiday. SO wet here!

I can't wait til tomorrow. Have had such a lovely weekend with DD but I seriously need to stop drinking. I don't quite know how my body will react, but I think/hope I am ready for it mentally and I am so glad/grateful that other babes are aiming for a dry month too. I really need to focus on work, and can't do that when permanently pissed.

Love to all

awww, thanks sweet it really will - I need to be more straight headed than I was last month, as I barely survived it work-wise - thankfully even the most robust of us were struggling, as there was complicated office renovating shenannigans going on, and we were practically all sitting on each other's laps. We've now been given our shiny new spaces, and our boss, bless him has seated us in order of how introverted we are - so I'm now sat miles away from the noisy creative types, and we're on a totally different floor from the IT mob who are a whole different story.
What with that, and the hoohah here, and finding out something deeply unpleasant about someone I used to volunteer with, it was all a bit much, and I've been hitting the old wine-crutch far too hard.

Ma howya doing? I've just done my online shopping order and chucked in 4 bags of boiled sweets to get me through the next week.

April - I moved back into my old flat about 3 years ago - I remember so clearly the time it felt like home, it was when I was going for my morning wee and the corridor just felt SO familiar.... odd, I remember other places feeling like home for exactly the same reasons. Something about navigating your morning wee without having to think where you're going :)

I'm a bit of a cat on a hot tin roof tbh. Only 7pm hmmmm.

Day 1 here and twitching.... Doesn't help that there is opened wine in the fridge. Am drinking tea and battling. Got antibiotics from doc so telling myself that I can't drink while on them and trying to focus on how pleased with myself I will be in the morning. Haven't actually taken anymof the HRT yet. It's still in its box in the cupboard!

Opened bottle of wine here too but bollocks I am telling that voice to go away. Even if I have to clean out cupboards to keep busy I will do it. Ma you can get through it. Early nights if we have to.....

grr......called this one wrong - went to the pub with kids and DP, made grand gesture of drinking 'last glass' (x3) and it is now only 7.20 and I have the rest of the night to get through, no booze in the house....will have to go to bed to cope. I am still looking forward to being AF again but right now - aaargh!

Snow how are you doing?