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.

Morning All.

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday Ma, and Mouse
Happy Birthday to you.

Bee Good luck with the 10k

Today is two weeks. TWO WHOLE WEEKS for lots of us. Longest bloody two weeks of the year

Ma you made a great choice last night, you get to wake up refreshed and hangover free on your birthday, a very special present to yourself.

Hope I agree with you about Claire Pooley's blog and socialising sober. If I look back at my socialising over the last year, I've found I actually drink less around other heavy drinkers

Happy birthday mouse and ma (joins in the chorus)

ma it struck me yesterday that you are always going to have a birthday in the middle of dry January, so you can either have a drink that one day and carry on with DJ afterwards, or celebrate your birthday with all the sober things you can enjoy - a walk on the beach, a luxurious hot chocolate, a bit of a dance, ogling some men in uniform Whatever you choose don't feel guilty about it, don't let it spoil your birthday and don't let it ruin your resolve for the rest of January.

Morning all just a quickie as I'm off for a swim. Happy birthday ma and mouse hope you both have a wonderful day. Wow ma well done for choosing the elderflower instead of the fizz on your birthday too. How lovely that you will have woken up with a clear head and be able to make the most of your special day. Enjoy!

aww, you guys!
venus yup it falls on the same date every year!
slings welcome back, good to see you again
Want to name check everyone but have already forgotten the names, must be old age. Am I the oldest gimmer on the bus?
14 days is the longest dry spell for me since I was last pregnant 16 years ago. I think this the best Dry January on this bus too. Usually most of the Babes have given up by now. Thanks to all the new Babes bringing their energy and new voices and support. Collectivey, we are a powerful force.

Well, I'm being put to shame by all the exercisers (Twattage, Bee, Trying) I think I'll have to go back to swimming tomorrow. I was going regularly in autumn then slipped out of the habit. I did mean to start again Thursday but then I got a cold...excuses, excuses.

Still not got a plan for today. DS wants to go for ice cream. It's all healthy living in this house!

Happy birthday Ma and Mouse! Ma, you are the backbone of this bus, you have helped SO many babes, you are always there for all of us, you rock! Have a brilliant day, you deserve it.

Happy Birthday ma and mouse. I too have a birthday this month and take great inspiration from you ma for not choosing the prosecco.
Today will be 13 day AF and tomorrow 2 weeks will be my record so am looking forward to smashing that record and setting a new one.
Off to the gym for Zumba...the exercise really does help. Lost 2 pounds now in 13 days. Small woohoo!
Have a good day everybody.

Happy Birthday Ma
Have a wonderful day and truly well done without the prosecco

Happy Birthday Mouse I hope you have a fabulous day with your family

Day 14 today!

Happy Birthday Ma and Mouse!

I had my first Dry Birthday in about 25 years last year and it was wonderful! I felt so amazingly and proud of myself afterwards.

Whatever you decide to do though just have a fab day and if needs be climb vast on the bus tomorrow x

Forgot to say happy birthday again to ma and mouse I forgot you (sorry).

Back from my run on the beach - ran all 5k this week. Amazing how much my fitness is improving now that I am properly hydrated and rested.

Last week's time: 35:55 (walked 2 mins)
This week's time: 34:07
PB: 32:14 (I was over half a stone lighter, possibly more, when I got that time).

I have to say I'm feeling awesome this morning :). xxx

Mouse lovely I tried to attach a photo and for some reason tis not working hopefully attached now! Blooming tech it's beyond me

I give up

Hi everyone - Happy Birthday to ma and mouse

I don't think I have had a sober birthday since I was 15 Both my DC were conceived around my birthday so have never had to experience it pregnant. You should be really proud of yourself Ma.

baking that is so interesting that your workmates assumed you wouldn't be able to come on night out as you are doing DJ. Just shows how ingrained drinking culture is.

I ate a family sized pack of naice crisps and about twenty thirty Thorntons moments last night watching stuff I had on sky box - Death in Paradise, and Girlfriends. Got up late and am about to go and do the Sunday weigh in. Not looking forward to it.

I feel like next week is going to be a good one for all of us so onwards and upwards babes.

Happy birthday ma and mouse

Hope you both have a lovely day!!

flowersonthepiano you have said something there that really resonated with me. I'm not sure I actually like drinking either. I get really anxious around drinking because I know how badly it can go. The first glass is lovely but for me it never stops there.

I get the dilemma of being around drunk people sober. I am starting to think it's really boring and actually that's ok (at best alcohol made me really boring... at worst .... i was awful!!) I don't have to do it. I can do other things not involving everyone else getting drunk that are good fun.

Training run for my half marathon coming up - it went really well. Really pleased with how the trainings going could not have done this unless af.

lou thank you that sounds really good I will have a look!!

bee hope your run went well today.

twattage you sound very boingy. Great stuff.
For those, like me, who find many soft drinks too sweet i have just bought some cans of Schweppes Grapefruit and Blood Orange and it's good, not sweet but not eye-wateringly sharp either. 50 calories a can.

Happy birthday to ma and Mouse - and my DS1 too! 12 today, can't quite believe it... 😆

I am afraid I visited the sidecar this weekend. My Dry Jan is definitely more Try. However, without this thread and without trying I would have had a drink on 10 out of the 13 days of this year. As it is it's only been 4/13. And 5 days on the trot, which hasn't happened for some years. I am not kidding myself at all that this is somehow a better achievement than 0/13 but I am trying hard to have positive reactions rather than flagellate myself with self-loathing, which history tells me will just lead to a reappearance of the fuck-it button. Starting again today, and I will not drink today.

I also moderate around other over-drinkers. Hadn't realised that I did until I read the discussion upthread.

twattage well done on your run time this week!! You beat last weeks by about 5% that's brilliant. You are really lucky to live near enough to a beach that you can go running on it 😊

Can I join in? I've been lurking on this thread for months. I won't bore you with all the details but I'd become a daily drinker and a lot of it!! This is day 11 sober for me and after feeling quite boingy I seem to have hit a wall today. I'm exhausted, achy, really grumpy, low level headache that won't shift, starting to feel a bit weepy. I've just downed a can of no alcohol lager to keep me from pressing the fuck it button. At 2pm FFS!!!!!

Sorry for such a moany first post. It's reading these threads that finally convinced me to do this so thank you to everyone who posts their honest accounts of how difficult this is. I don't think I'll drink today but I'm not convinced of that. This is the longest I've gone without a drink in over 7 years. More like 30 if you don't count pregnancy enforced sobriety. I'll be so angry with myself if I drink today.

Hope the birthday girls are having a great day. I might just raise a toast with another Becks Blue.

happy birthday to your ds rose. one minute they are babies and the next some kind of horrible mutant teenager and you have to grit your teeth until they come out the other side as humans. I think you are doing really well with Try January. 4/13 is bloody good going in anyone's book. Keep at it.
kind you are very welcome to join us. We have another alias although she hasn't been around for a while, so we will call you kind
Day 11 is excellent. i can understand the fuck it button - I am grimly swigging cold drinks because I want alcohol today. Could you also be hormonal or heading for a cold/flu thingy? Take care of yourself.

Welcome Alias and well done on your 11 days, that’s no mean feat if you’d been drinking every day.

It’s very normal to be up and down emotionally in the first few AF weeks, instead of all those emotions getting numbed by booze, they are all there laid out front of you and it can be very overwhelming.

Can you distract for the rest of the day and go to bed really early? Have a bath, do a face mask, paint your nails, make a cake, watch a box set...anything that keeps your mind and hands busy.

You will feel so proud of yourself if you manage to stay AF today and it will give you loads of confidence for the week ahead.

Thanks ma and margie. I've decided to distract myself with a long hot bath accompanied by some nice fever tree tonic in place of the previously obligatory glass of wine. I will also drink as many af beers as it takes to get me through today. I've just had a word with myself for handwringing over drinking a 2pm becks blue when two weeks ago if I was in this mood I'd be most of the way through a bottle of wine by now.

Could well be hormones ma . I've reached that age when it's almost permanently hormones

Thanks trying - 5% is a lot! That time was better than nearly all my runs last summer after drinking beers. So it does go to show that I will be much improved whilst sober...

alias - hopefully the fuck it moment has now passed. Sunday has always been a trigger for me but since stopping drink the last two weekends I am much, much calmer.

I'll be watching a bit of ski sunday, having a toastie and then getting into my pjs. A few progs and then early bed. x

I can remember having about 8 becks blue one Sunday at the start of a long AF period....some days are harder than others. Hope those who are struggling today can stay strong. I think it is about this time that typically people give up their resolutions?

I am struggling today - completely fucked off with my husband, he is really pressing my buttons lately....