The Brave Babes Battle Bus - New year, old battles, big resolve

[SweetLathyrus]

Hi, I'm SweetLathyrus, Sweet for short, and I've been on and off Gerald the Brave Babes Battle Bus for years, so this time it's me standing in for our wonderful Mouse to invite you on board.

The bus is a place of support, safety and occasional silliness for those of us struggling with our relationship with alcohol. Some of us are sober, some are trying to be, some are moderating and aren't ready to give up alcohol just yet.

So whatever your reason for questioning the whys and WTFs of your drinking, hop on board, make yourselves comfortable and join in.

If you want to see what it's like, here's the link to the last thread, the one that saw us through Christmas.

And if you want to know how it all started, here is the link to JWN's original, inspiring thread.

Join us on our journey, you won't regret it.

Thank you for the welcome s and thank youl @Trust2017 yes I think your idea of starting again today is perfect and I would llove tomorrow to be able to say Day 2 AF. It's just a stupid lack of will power. Bit saying 2 out of 3 days as AF sounds really good doesn't it?
I remembered I downloaded a book by Allen Carr on my iPad bout taking control so I'm going to read that and see if it helps.
Has anyone else read his book?

Thank you @LuxuryWoman2017 for the recommendation 😊 and thank you @SweetLathyrus Flor the positive train of thought that is a really good way of looking at it

Can I clamber aboard? I have been lurking since the shame overwhelmed me on Boxing Day. Too much for too long, and had a couple of days of too much even for me (including Christmas Day). I have done DJ before so I know I can do it. Today will be Day 1.

Thank you for the thread. Looking forward to joining in a bit.

clambers aboard and waves tiredly to all
That sodding wind and rain last night, I thought I'd be waking up in Oz!
I've managed to get my DJ app to finally load so I'm now looking forward to seeing a nice row of 👍. So today starts Day 9 and back to work and the gym from Saturday.

Bloody hell, you turn your back for a second and everyone moves onto a new thread and is two pages in before I find it. AND eats the Opal Fruits
Welcome pasta and rose and trying - good to see you came to join us.
Did someone remember to bring Barrie over from the old thread?
Been back in work 2 hours and am exhausted already!

gingergenius
It's horrible isn't it, that hangover feeling when you haven't drunk. It will start to pass soon. It's just your body sorting yourself out. It normally takes about 3-5 days for me.

Morning babes, I would like to to have a seat on your bus if I may?! I did join a couple of years back and also been on the Dry thread too, but keep falling off the wagon so to speak. I would like to give up all together but need to be realistic so doing DJ first. I’m on day 3 and feel pretty sluggish but will not be drinking today.

Happy New Year lovely bus babes!
I'm going to resume my seat, if that's ok? I had all intentions of a proper dry Jan but myself and DH finished up all the xmas booze last night /sigh.

SweetLathyrus, I do believe we are in the same racket. I too am just finishing up marking a module whilst trying to get my own writing done. It's not going well, so far...

Anyway, I'm happy to be back on the bus and I'm determined that last night was just a "last hurrah" and I'm going to be dry all month, and beyond!

Lovely to see so many new faces, and, of course, it's wonderful to see so many old familiar passengers. /looks furtively around to check that horrid baby doll has been dropped off in a portaloo along the road.

Yes weird symptoms can be quite confusing and worrying. I am always convinced I have diabetes when I first give up as seem to wee constantly all through the night for the first couple of days but gradually that settles down - this confuses me as I thought we were supposed to be constantly dehydrated! It doesn't happen to my husband hence me being convinced it was a dire sign of imminent death . I was really worried last year and went for a diabetes test and it was all okay.

Day 3 here too. Was hoping to feel a little bit better or even a bit positive but I feel completely miserable, like I might burst into tears any second. Is this normal?

I havent drank since last thursday nor and i feel so so much better, I think the way xmas has fallen has helped as the weekend didnt feel like a weekend and we are back to a working week and I never drink during the week.i think this weekend will be a slight challenge but I'm going to buy some colouring-in books and a couple of new novels to tuck up in bad with.....when eyes went a sandy colour last week after drinking for 5 days due to xmas parties....I knew I had to cut back/out.

Today I think it's totally normal, I had a teary episode last night, similar to PMT.

Example of my pre Xmas drunk/hungover brain fug - got to work this morning to find I had actually booked the day off! 🙄 Memory is officially shot!

Morning all. Day 3. Have a headache and juat been to see my accountant. Freelance work to do now and getting dd ready for school before real work tomorrow. Struggling and not read back but welcome to all newbies and grabbing a seat for January 2018...

Aargh! Today has been really stressful- DH being an arse, bad news about elderly relative, kids playing up and there’s some shit I have to do every single night for the next week.

Think I might grab the bus and drive somewhere rural or coastal, some where a bloody long way away from my friends & family ( might bring the toddler)

Still sober,still not intending to drink but am now driving the bus ... he he!

I take it back, see8ng an accountant is way worse than whinging kids.

The bus is still MINES MINES MINES.....wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

today i really struggled mood wise in the early days. What made it worse was i expected to feel great as I was working hard to keep sober so feeling like crap was just a kick in the teeth.

Stick with it. Read mummys a secret drinker blog I'm sure she talks about it in there something about dopamine levels so it's 'normal' not to feel great at the start.

I not someone who can drink at all. (Desperately tried moderating for years, never managed just getting further out of hand.) This is the first really significant stretch I've managed and I am starting to see a future without booze. Starting to feel good. (Obviously not all the time but have been feeling low for a long time and I don't this week.)

Stick with it. Be kind to yourself. Give yourself treats x

Where are we going Guggs? Somewhere warm pleeeese.

Hogarth I hate marking soooooooooooooo much. What's this "time for my own writing" thing of which you speak? Actually, just had an invitation to introduce some new research I'm doing from someone quite prominent.I had to go and ask DH if it was ok to email back addressing them by their first name, because that was all they had signed of with?!
I had a boss years ago who took me to lunch and told me he couldn't trust an academic who didn't drink .

Oh Bernie, DOH!

Today, very normal. Wait 'til you get the acne breakout around day four!

I had a very major wobble just before lunch, really, really wanted to cave, but I took my own advice, waited a minute, then distracted myself (with a walnut whip), and it has now passed.

I foolishly took the children ice-skating and then tried to buy school shoes/jeans for the teenage daughter. It never goes well because she hates trying on clothes and always gets rude and stroppy. Why did I think this time would be any different? Wine will not help, wine will not help.... (repeat until it sinks in!)

Hi. Can I hop on this bus? I’ve been drinking best part of a bottle of wine a day for at least a year and absolutely need to not.
We went to friends and in drove (go me) so had one really small glass of fizz at midnight. I did drink nyd as we had friends over but not had any since then. So effectively day 2 for me.
I don’t ‘want’ to stop completely so will attempt to have 5 af days a week and not go crazy on the other 2. Well, that’s my plan anyway, let’s see.

Ffs - went to friends New Year’s Eve and I drove!

The Caribbean. That’s where we’ll go. Children,teenagers and possibly husbands are banned. Sorry! It will be an oasis of peace and tranquility. It will also be big enough so that you can stomp off by yourself for a bit.

Anyway, welcome crikey yorkshire- i’m Not think8ng about the teenage years. I’m going to pretend they don’t exist. Hope you feel better soon. Try counting to one gazillion ...

Having just been for a wet, windy dog walk, the Caribbean sounds ideal.

For those who are daily drinkers and feeling a bit crap in the early days of being af, don't worry, it's what they call 'seeing the hangover through to the end'

We get used to being constantly sub-optimal, a bit slow to start in the morning, and then medicate with more alcohol by tea time. The whole thing never completely leaves our system.

But just wait, as you get over this short phase some of you will notice clearer eyes, less puffy skin, maybe even an unaccustomed spring in your step. It's called the 'boing'. And it's good :)

Evening all babes and bears - - a shiny new thread :).

It took forever to get to work this morning (there were no trees on the line but there was an object on the power lines and a lack of train drivers and and a load of the usual excuses) and then I realised that half the trains were cancelled back to London this PM so I left client-side at 2pm. Am now in bed with laptop (not quite yet in pjs but will be after 5pm)!

Positives:

• Absolutely no cravings / thoughts of beer today;
• I'm tired, so am sure I'll sleep well tonight (it seems lots of us didn't sleep well last night);
• My skin feels slightly less like sandpaper to the touch...

Other than that, I still look like shit and am an enormous blob, but I am not letting that get me down, as improvements will come in due course.

Tonight I'll be on my usual rooibos tea and an episode of Phil & Kirsty at 8pm, then straight to bed...

Am off to read the original thread from the beginning now. x