Lived Experience Forum

[Schitzo]

@Former-Memberyes, I put the pansies in our garden. Your garden sounds beautiful. I love roses and primroses too. The bird of paradise is a gorgeous flower. They sell bird of paradise as an indoor plant here, we can't grow them outside.🌻🌝

[TheVorticon]

Thanks @Former-Member.
Hi @outlander. Yeah a bit of an acceptance thing. Also that my body will never be the way I want it to be so it seems easier to accept things as-is than to think about what's not possible.

[Former-Member]

@Former-Member 

Hi! I did actually get somewhere with finding support..kinda..I found a place called The Mingary that does low cost counselling via zoom and phone (cos they're in Melbourne) so arranged for them to call me on Monday and I did a zoom this morning also..but then I texted my mental health nurse to say I'm doing all of these things to work on myself but it's really hard not to have her every week anymore aaaand she offered to see me for free for the rest of the year once a month! : ) I'm gonna go twice/month, but pay for the second time so that's still every other week which is way better than adding a second counsellor I think.

Self-help is maybe the wrong word, Oprah has a bunch of videos on youtube so I just watch that in a playlist and try to skip to the "uplifting" ones - there's also a series this lady does (on the Oprah youtube channel) called "Fear Not" - it's just her doing really short chats but she's so awesome I'm almost considering buying one of her books (really I think I would just enjoy talking to her haha).

If you go to the main ARCVic website and under Services there's a Support Groups section and that brings up the zoom groups (just click on one of the days/times in color and it brings up a schedule where you can book...hope I explained that ok).

I'm finding it super helpful to see and chat to people cos I'm alone all the time, and if you're like me and sleep in the morning it's also a good reason to get up.

@outlanderThanks muchly, if you want to tag me in anything that'd be great - I had to turn off the email notifications cos there were so many but I'm on the comp pretty much all day so I usually check in here.

[outlander]

@Former-Member 

you might also like some of these threads

Good Morning  

Anyone feel like chatting? 

im not sure on your other interests but we have alot of them like gardenings, dogs, quotes, cooking arts and crafts too. That way you can meet some other members too that arent LBGTI

[Former-Member]

@outlanderThanks for that! : )

I have a pretty limited amount of interest in that it's my cat, talking about my cat and taking pictures of..my cat haha.

(But I'll stop to talk to any cat : )

I did use to write and I've published stuff and I did dancing whenI was younger but I stopped ages ago, now I mostly just watch youtube.

Oh and Ru Pauls drag race if that can be considered a hobby!

(I'm really looking forward to things opening up and being able to volunteer or use my new cert in education support to work w kids but I honestly don't DO a whole lot..I mostly just have things on in the background and kinda just loose track of time thinking about things...not, most likely, very important things lol)

[Former-Member]

Oh and giving presents! (it's what my ex called my biggest expense)...and arts and crafts...if I'm ever in a situation where I can I'm a huge present and personalised cards giver..honestly I've even tried to google if there's a present box volunteering service lol cos I would really enjoy it...

[Former-Member]

@Former-Member 

That's beautiful with present and cards. I don't know about volunteering, but if you go to a charity, they can let you know if they accept gifts & cards or even in an aged care home. Last Christmas I was making & writing Xmas cards to people in psych units who couldn't go home.

[NatureLover]

Hello...I didn't participate in the discussion on Tuesday night as I was uncertain, but I found it very interesting. I'm 49 years old and female, and I guess questioning my sexuality. I've always had a secret interest in women but never done anything about it or even told anyone. I've had boyfriends and male partners, and that has never worked out well for me - quite the opposite. So now I wonder if I was socially conditioned and repressed? or just turned off by my experiences with men? or maybe I was confused?

I've heard and read about many women 'coming out' in middle age, and I've never known if it was any of those factors I mentioned above.

It's kind of too late to do anything about it at my age anyway, and I'm happy being single as I don't feel I'm good in relationships. But I'm wondering where to go to get help with this confusion...I'd kind of like to sort it out for myself.

@Jynx   @outlander   @eth   @Former-Member   @Adge 

[nashy]

Hey @Former-Member so good learning about you and awesome to hear of all the resources you've come across and self-help strategies. Unfortunately do the anonymity guideline members are encouraged not to link up on other websites such as zoom, one of the best things about an anonymous forum is you can be as honest as you want but the downfall is people form genuine connections and can't connect offsite. It's in our guidelines if you're keen on more info 🙂

I have heard that ArcVic do brilliant work as well. I am the same as you I find youtube sometimes my own personal therapist. I enjoy finding meditations on there, pretty decent selection 

What are you up to today?

[nashy]

Hey @TheVorticon thanks for popping in. We're here to listen if you ever need 🙂 It's okay to press the ignore button from time to time I reckon