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Sophie_M Big Blue Table - Right here on the Forums!
  • replies: 8

Hello to our wonderful forums community! We have decided to run an ongoing Big Blue Table thread ‘Forums Edition’ until the end of October! What is a Big Blue Table? Big Blue Table is Beyond Blue's signature event held during October, Mental Health M... View more

Hello to our wonderful forums community! We have decided to run an ongoing Big Blue Table thread ‘Forums Edition’ until the end of October! What is a Big Blue Table? Big Blue Table is Beyond Blue's signature event held during October, Mental Health Month. Big Blue Table encourages people host a meal with their friends, family or colleagues while fighting the stigma that surrounds mental health. So why are we running one here? The reason we are doing this is so people have an opportunity to connect with others and have the experience of sharing their thoughts and feelings over a meal, no matter where they are in Australia. We know Mental Health Month can be a vulnerable time for many and believe this thread could be a safe space for people to be heard and learn from others’ experiences. Our community champions will be here to support you along the way, and our moderation team will be around to answer any questions you may have, as well as to ensure the thread remains respectful and safe for everyone. We encourage you to choose from the following questions to start a conversation: What do you do to look after your mental health? Are you comfortable sharing your feelings and emotions? If not, why? What are you passionate about, and why? Who would be your dream Big Blue Table guest, and why? After you have shared your answers, we would love to hear about what you are eating or bringing to the table. You can even tell us a little bit about your setup and what you can see around you to really immerse us into your world. This is your opportunity to be as creative as you’d like! But remember, there is no pressure or ‘right’ response, whatever you bring to the table will be more than enough. We hope this thread allows you to feel connected, supported, and a part of the Big Blue Table initiative. Now… get cooking!

Sophie_M Welcome to the BB Social Zone - guidelines for posting in this section
  • replies: 0

Hi everyone, This section of the forum is a little different to the others, as you may have noticed in looking around the threads. Elsewhere on the forums, we discuss some pretty heavy topics: mental health issues, thoughts of suicide, trauma, abuse,... View more

Hi everyone, This section of the forum is a little different to the others, as you may have noticed in looking around the threads. Elsewhere on the forums, we discuss some pretty heavy topics: mental health issues, thoughts of suicide, trauma, abuse, relationship breakdowns. Here is the place to come to get away from that and have a bit of fun. Distraction can be an important tool to draw on if you're finding yourself overwhelmed by distressing thoughts and feelings. As this is a section for respite from difficult topics, we will remove posts made in this section that attempt to discuss personal issues. Please use a support thread in the appropriate section for these discussions. Happy posting!

Kazzl The BB cafe
  • replies: 20591

The BB cafe is open for business! Welcome all to a new chill and chat place for everyone on the forum. The BB cafe is whatever you want it to be. There are comfy sofas, tables and chairs, coffee machines, a kitchen stocked with everything. There's a ... View more

The BB cafe is open for business! Welcome all to a new chill and chat place for everyone on the forum. The BB cafe is whatever you want it to be. There are comfy sofas, tables and chairs, coffee machines, a kitchen stocked with everything. There's a pool outside, a bbq area, an annexe with comfy beds for a quiet sleep, tv, dvd, books and whatever else you would like to have here. Most of all, it's a place to meet friends and fellow travellers for a bit of company. Talk over problems, tell jokes, share your day, escape into a world of your making. Grab a coffee and pull up a chair ... So, with a nod to the wonderful Carole King (Hard Rock Cafe) ... Now if you're feeling just a little bit lonely Don't sit at home just mopin' Come on down to where the friendship flows freely You know the door is always open At the BB cafe Come to the BB cafe They will help keep your blues at bay At the BB cafe Important Message from ModSupport: The main intention of the BB Cafe is to encourage light conversation. Please look after your fellow community members by nuturing the BB Cafe as a place to escape some of the more pressing issues in life and save those conversations for personal threads.

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Neil_1 Canada - holiday experience (whale watching) Part 3
  • replies: 3

We went on a whale watching tour which was one of the best things that I’ve ever done. We got out to see a group of about 10-12 humpback whales and they were feeding at the time on small fish (herring, if I remember rightly) – it’s called Bubble feed... View more

We went on a whale watching tour which was one of the best things that I’ve ever done. We got out to see a group of about 10-12 humpback whales and they were feeding at the time on small fish (herring, if I remember rightly) – it’s called Bubble feeding and the tour guide told us that only a very small amount of people in the world ever get to see this phenomenon. A quick rundown of it: What you see are a stack of seagulls circling around and then when you see the seagulls zoom down to the water that means that the whales are about to explode out of the water. You see, as underneath the water, the whales are creating bubbles (thousands of bubbles) and they create the bubbles in a circle – and the bubbles trap the fish. The whales then move up toward the surface and the fish swim to the surface (seemingly trapped by the bubbles) – and that’s what has the interest of the seagulls because moments before the whales appear, you fleetingly see the fish jumping up out of the water and some of the seagulls are lucky enough to score a fish. It is THEN that the whales appear in a rush out of the water travelling straight up with their mouths open and hundreds of litres (gallons) of water enter their mouths and they come out of the water – how far out of the water is hard to say, but it would have to have been around several metres; they then turn and glide along the top of the water and jet out massive sprays of water out of their blowholes and the sound is something else and they do this for about a minute and just before they dive again to try for another bout of feeding, this is when they kind of arch their back (hence their name of humpback) and you see their enormous tail arch up into the air and then slide back into the water. They are a huge huge mammal and it’s something that I’ll remember forever. On that particular evening, we also saw two Orcas – amazing because our guide told us that it’s not an often thing to see them. Then as we were heading back, we went past a giant water bouy and just lazing in on it, we saw 6 sea lions, just sunning themselves. At that particular time it was 7:30pm. Sunset over there was on average sometime after 9pm, and sunrises (never saw any of them) were around 4:30am. We also saw salmon spawning up some tiny creeks, masses of salmon jumping in the waters of the inside passage, heaps of sea otters, seals.

Neil_1 Canada - my holiday experience (Part 1)
  • replies: 3

Hi all Now, this will be a fair read – and it won’t make the one message, so I’ll try and split it up as appropriately as I can so it flows from one to the other in an ok and readable fashion. Well, we’re now back from a most amazing trip. Still kind... View more

Hi all Now, this will be a fair read – and it won’t make the one message, so I’ll try and split it up as appropriately as I can so it flows from one to the other in an ok and readable fashion. Well, we’re now back from a most amazing trip. Still kinda jet-lagged at the moment, as we flew all night from LA to Brisbane and as a result, we by-passed Tuesday completely. I hope nothing major happened on that day, cause we saw none of it. How very weird really. Firstly as I’d imagine a lot of you are wondering – I had lots of up times which was fantastic, but I also had to deal with some bad down times as well. I won’t go too much into the down times as I want to try and keep this post as ‘up five’ as possible. The parts of Canada we saw - amazing. Calgary – we were there a week before the Stampede hits their city and when I say hits their city, I mean it – it is one massive event. Edmonton – wasn’t too bad either and by now we had our hire vehicle. We had to firstly upgrade from a Dodge Chrysler to a Ford SUV simply because the boot (trunk) space wasn’t big enough for all our bags!! The SUV was a neat little car though and was a breeze to drive and for the most part I did keep on the right hand side of the road. The Rockies (Jasper and Banff) – um, breath-taking. Stunning views every which way you looked and the amount of snow still up high was incredible, as they are well into their summer months. And with summer comes mozzies (or as they know them as, Skeeters) and it’s an unwritten funny fact that the mozzie is Canada’s national bird – as they’re that BIG! Holy smoke, I swear at one stage I was being half carried by the buggas at one stage. Fortunately though, we didn’t encounter too many of them which is a very good thing. Photos – well we took a bit over 4,000 of them. My daughter is an avid photographer and she is simply sensational with taking photos (or as the American/Canadian’s call them, pictures). We scored some very good photos of Black Bears and we even got one of a mum and her cub and oh my, the cub was cute; and as you’re driving along it’s so easy to see if there’s something by the side of the road as you’ll see anything between 4-10 cars parked by the side of the road and you cruise up slowly (and if you don’t see anyone out of their cars, you know it’s a bear). Otherwise, people jump out of their cars and snap off photos of goats, deer or elk.

Neil_1 Canada - my holiday experience (Part TWO)
  • replies: 0

We actually saw more bears than elk or deer. On a horse ride, me and my daughter saw a deer actually chase off a coyote that was quite close to the horses. That was pretty special. We also saw a fair number of goats and some baby (kids) which were ve... View more

We actually saw more bears than elk or deer. On a horse ride, me and my daughter saw a deer actually chase off a coyote that was quite close to the horses. That was pretty special. We also saw a fair number of goats and some baby (kids) which were very cute also. In between Jasper and Banff (about a 4 hour drive) we stopped off at the Columbia Icefield and we took a tour to stand on the Athabaskar Glacier and had to get onto it via a specially designed bus – amazing stuff; and then we did a walk on a skywalk that is glass based, so you can see right down to the bottom of the canyon. Standing out on an extended walkway with glass bottom looking down to a river far below! If you’d told me that I would have done that before we left, I would have told you that I thought you were bananas, but I did do it and it was pretty amazing. The cruise from Vancouver up to Alaska via the “inner passage” was simply awesome. We went on the Holland America line, ship’s name was the Zuiderdam (pron Zoo-der-dam) and for a period of 7 days, we encountered roughly two days where it was cold. All the rest we just lucked out with brilliant weather. In fact, Canada is experiencing some amazing summer weather – warm days (although they call it HOT HOT HOT) and next to no rainfall where we were. On the cruise we did a whale watching tour from Alaska’s capital of Juneau (and what an amazing capital – not overly big and there’s only 3 ways of getting to Juneau – by air, by water and by birth). They have a road that goes for 9 mile in one direction and then it ends and in the other direction it goes for about 40 miles and then it ends. So over the years all vehicles that are there have had to be ferried in. If I recall correctly the population of Juneau in summer is around 2,500 people and in winter it drops down to about 500 people.

Cameron66 New here :-)
  • replies: 3

Hey everyone I am 42 years old and live in Melbourne. (Permanently migrated from south africa 18 months ago). Have been on meds for anxiety for past 13 years but last two years have been noticing a pattern of monthly highs (for a week) where my perso... View more

Hey everyone I am 42 years old and live in Melbourne. (Permanently migrated from south africa 18 months ago). Have been on meds for anxiety for past 13 years but last two years have been noticing a pattern of monthly highs (for a week) where my personality changes, I am extremely extrovert, louder, confident and so positive. (This is where I sign up for courses or gym memberships freely). I also catch up on dreaded phone calls and seem to interact with utmost confidence with strangers. A week or so later I seem to get lower and barely interact, self esteem low and generally tired. After this I seem flat with underlying nervous energy. Rinse. Repeat. Oh I also have lupus (very manageable, hardly symptoms except tiredness) Enough about me. Looking to make friends in similar situations. Thanks for reading.

geoff Geoff just letting you all know
  • replies: 8

dear All, well even the longest responder can't go without having a relapse, so at the moment I am climbing up the black hole again, so you never can overcome depression even though I often say that I have, but there is always some catalyst lurking i... View more

dear All, well even the longest responder can't go without having a relapse, so at the moment I am climbing up the black hole again, so you never can overcome depression even though I often say that I have, but there is always some catalyst lurking in the background ready to pounce again. Many times I can push it away, but we all have our weak points and by having OCD hasn't helped me at all, moving into a new residence where all your 'friends' disappear when you want them to help you, funny that because we all know it happens with our depression. My sons have both offered to help, but one lives about 9 or 10 hours away, and the other has 2 young children and works 12 hour night shifts, so I declined their offers, as much as they wanted to help me. I know that I will get better, it's happened to me before, and this will be no different, so I will be still be posting back to you but only slowly at the moment. I care for you all and want to thank you all who have kept this forum alive, with many new members joining each day. You endeavour to help people is what is so lovely about this site, and to those people who I regularly reply back to, I am still here so never give up. Sorry guys look away, but L Geoff. x

geoff now I have to re-join
  • replies: 1

I am so sorry that I have not been able to pull my finger out, because there are so many posts that need attention, and the beautiful people who have been carrying the weight, you are all just brilliant, and have being doing a fantastic effort, but n... View more

I am so sorry that I have not been able to pull my finger out, because there are so many posts that need attention, and the beautiful people who have been carrying the weight, you are all just brilliant, and have being doing a fantastic effort, but now I have to get over this relapse which I am now doing and I am starting to gain my strength back. There are so many posts which I can relate to, and hell I want to assist you all, because it's too big a job for those that continually respond, so I will 'be back' tomorrow as there are some issues for myself which I have undertaken, after this relapse which seems to have been my worst, and that can be spoken about later on. Geoff. x

geoff when moving house
  • replies: 5

dear All I have been off line for 2 and half days because I have been moving residence, and firstly I hope that I never have to do it again, and if I do then there will be only one way, and secondly our biggest telephone company had been given 5 days... View more

dear All I have been off line for 2 and half days because I have been moving residence, and firstly I hope that I never have to do it again, and if I do then there will be only one way, and secondly our biggest telephone company had been given 5 days warning to have my phone hooked up 2 days before I moved in, but it wasn't, so I had to get them to rush it through because I need it on for medical condition and alarm around my neck, but then internet wasn't connected so I am on a temporary booster from my iphone account. I am sure that plenty has been going on and sorry for much that I missed out on. Geoff.

Neil_1 Neil heading for holiday overseas as well
  • replies: 15

Dear wonderful people from Beyond Blue I heard just recently that our good friend John (CrashCoyote) is heading off on a holiday overseas – in about 4 weeks time. Well, I think it now time to let you all know that me and the fam are also heading off ... View more

Dear wonderful people from Beyond Blue I heard just recently that our good friend John (CrashCoyote) is heading off on a holiday overseas – in about 4 weeks time. Well, I think it now time to let you all know that me and the fam are also heading off overseas in just less than 3 weeks time as well. The end of June, we’ll be outta here. We fly out to Canada – where we’ll spend three weeks, in and around the Rockies, before making our way to Vancouver, where we’ll climb on board a ship (Holland-America line) and have a weeks cruise to, in and round Alaska, before sailing back to Vancouver. So we'll be flying into Calgary and spend a few days there. Then grab a car and (well not grab, cause that could be construed as being against the law - even in Canada - so we've hired) drive to Edmonton and another few days there. Then drive up and into the Rockies. A week and a half up there - in Banff and also Jasper. Then drive on across to Vancouver, taking a couple of days to get there. We’ll be back in the land of Oz at the end of July. I don’t quite know what else to say at this point – it IS fast approaching; roughly less than 20 days now. So in the meantime, I’ll be still doing my thing on here each day leading up till we leave – so nothing will change in that respect. But I’ll definitely be back here again announcing my fond farewells before I leave. And it’s only for a period of about 4 weeks anyway and then I’ll be back – but can’t guarantee that I’ll be typing still with an Aussie accent – I may have picked up a few Canadian terms and tendances by then. See yawl Neil (ok ok, that's perhaps not Canadian or Alaskan, but it's in the general vicinity). (What was that? I haven't gone yet? Oh yeah, riiiiiggggggghhhhhhhhhhttttttttttt).

arcane66 Hi, introducing myself
  • replies: 5

Hi everyone, I have just joined beyond blue on-line and thought I would introduce myself. My name is Lynne and I am 53. I have been married for nearly 12 years for the 2nd time. I have 3 children, 2 boys 34 and 31 and a daughter 24. I have been diagn... View more

Hi everyone, I have just joined beyond blue on-line and thought I would introduce myself. My name is Lynne and I am 53. I have been married for nearly 12 years for the 2nd time. I have 3 children, 2 boys 34 and 31 and a daughter 24. I have been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, Borderline Personality Disorder and Bi-Polar for 20 years. It has taken me a long time to realize that I have an illness. My doctor says I don't have Borderline Personality Disorder but I thought I would still put it in because that is what one of my earlier phychiatrists said I had. My doctor says I have Bi-Polar and was miss-diagnosed all those years ago. I have not had to be hospitalized for 4 years now, but before that I was always in and out of hospital. I think I had finally worked out what my triggers were and so went to my doctors before I got too bad and needed to be hospitalized. It has not been easy and my 3 children have not had a good childhood, but I feel they have turned out alright. Last week was my birthday and I did not get anything for my birthday and even my daughter didn't wish me a happy birthday. I know we are having a few problems but to not wish me a happy birthday hurt. It is the first year my husband has never got me anything for my birthday. I am depressed at the moment so joining this group at this time has been perfect timing. I am finding things getting me down easily and now I have hurt my back. My husband and I live in a caravan because our dream was to become grey nomads and travel around Australia. So far in 2 years we have traveled for 5 months in 2013 to Western Australia. We have been plagued by illnesses, injuries, operations and appointments. We hope to go to Wallaroo on the 7th July for a week. I need this so bad just so I can go off by myself and do some fishing on my own. I miss being able to just go somewhere on my own. I don't drive and I cannot catch buses anymore because I have had 3 bus accidents as a passenger. When we had our own home I used to do gardening to keep my depression in check but now I have nothing. I hope this forum will be very helpful for me. Thank you rant over. I look forward to talking to you all.

k_therase We're all mad here.
  • replies: 2

Thought I would share the poems from over a year ago. I am now okay. In this land i seek the fork, that part in the road where the flowers talk. It’s exclaimed that every one here is mad,not in the anger but simply a crazy fad. In this mystical land ... View more

Thought I would share the poems from over a year ago. I am now okay. In this land i seek the fork, that part in the road where the flowers talk. It’s exclaimed that every one here is mad,not in the anger but simply a crazy fad. In this mystical land of impractical guilt, its time to acknowledge the madness built.In the land of Alice’s parnoia and suspicion,I seek for those on a mission. To break hearts and tea cup plates, those who are cruel are behind the cakes. Walking around like they own the land, but really their personalities are just bland. The fake ones should be thrown into the land of leaches.In Alices land, a world of my own, I walk the streets with my shadow alone. I struggle to conqure those who are mean, I fill up the room with the tears that are green. The envy filled inside those black hearts, they bleed and tare like abstract art. The tea cups are smashed and the cake eaten, now it is only my mind to be beaten.In the land Alice has created, I seem to be the only one ever hated. All I receive from thou who are treasured, are knives and daggers as my back is turned and severed.In Alice’s world of deceiving and crultey, my mind is made up, yup, absolutely. I find thy friends made from smiles and laughs, but really their all hiding behind those masks. They tease and joke, because they think it’s funny, when in Alice’s world it is a waste of money. To spend life on those who don’t matter, when all I need is the mad hatter.I live in Alice’s land of wonders and lies, wondering who has the best disguise. The mad hatter, or the queen of hearts, all the friends shatter thy world into parts. Looking for the staggering path to no where, but there doesn’t seem to be a soul to care. Alice’s world of mischief and fun, sometimes I think I’m finally done.