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BeyondBlue Hey there - read this to see what this section is all about
  • replies: 0

Hello and welcome This is the Relationships and Family section where members can talk about what is happening in their lives and the people they live with. We know that who we live with can make a big impact on our wellbeing, both in a good way or a ... View more

Hello and welcome This is the Relationships and Family section where members can talk about what is happening in their lives and the people they live with. We know that who we live with can make a big impact on our wellbeing, both in a good way or a negative way. As always, we want to hear your story and how it impacts you and encourage everyone to support each other with kindness. There are a few things to consider when posting in this section so we can all get the most out of it: Everyone’s situation is unique. We all do our best to share what is important in our story but we can never share it all. Let’s be mindful we can’t know all of everyone’s story. Anonymous but public. These posts are available to everyone and while the moderation team will keep it anonymous, its still up for everyone to read. Have a think about what you want to share to get the best support for you. Please stay safe. This space is an amazing way to seek support from others who might understand what you are going through. We want to hear how you are going and what is happening for you. Please also consider 1800RESPECT if you don’t feel safe or 000 if you are in danger right now. You deserve to be safe. Thank you again for joining this conversation, your contributions are worthy and important to us here. Beyond Blue

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Angel223x Lost and defeated
  • replies: 3

I recently separated from my ex wife about two months so unfortunately only being married 3-4 months, We’d been together for 5+ years but neither one of us were happy, We have a two year old daughter which I haven’t seen in over a month due to my ex ... View more

I recently separated from my ex wife about two months so unfortunately only being married 3-4 months, We’d been together for 5+ years but neither one of us were happy, We have a two year old daughter which I haven’t seen in over a month due to my ex partner completely ghosting me I have no idea where or what they’re doing, I’ve lost my little best friend my heart aches every single day how can you go a day without your child let alone an entire month I miss her so much it is exhausting mentally and emotionally.

Naomisk1 Sister withdrawing from family
  • replies: 8

My sister is a shy person and I know she enjoys time to herself but when she started high school she gradually started talking to me less. It's been a few years since then and now we basically don't talk. We used to be best friends and would have sle... View more

My sister is a shy person and I know she enjoys time to herself but when she started high school she gradually started talking to me less. It's been a few years since then and now we basically don't talk. We used to be best friends and would have sleepovers every other night. She has virtually no confidence and I sometimes think it's because of me putting too much pressure on her to make friends in high school which makes me feel so guilty. When she started high school she was shy but still so bubbly and happy at home and when I would see her at school. She hardly talks to our parents either and my mum doesn't know what to do. Around a year ago I asked her if she was feeling ok and she said she was feeling fine and sounded very confused why I asked. I don't know what I should do next because her personality has changed so much and now she just stays in her room all day and doesn't leave to eat until 3-4pm sometimes.

white knight Jealousy (material items)
  • replies: 6

The thing I find fascinating about jealousy is that few people that are jealous ever acknowledge they are. Some might observe a neighbour with their shiny new car or roll up in a vintage sports car. Then they feel uneasy, they might in their mind cri... View more

The thing I find fascinating about jealousy is that few people that are jealous ever acknowledge they are. Some might observe a neighbour with their shiny new car or roll up in a vintage sports car. Then they feel uneasy, they might in their mind criticise them "only on one wage and they are buying a sports car". Welcome to jealousy. The amusing thing about it is that it is all very normal. We want what others have, we even justify ourselves for our feelings by suggesting they dont deserve it. All these emotions are normal. However, are they always normal and can they be dangerous? Jealousy- meaning- "a feeling of unhappiness caused by wanting what someone else has". Envy is very similar. The danger in jealousy can lead to conflict, mess with your thoughts and even end with a serious law breach. So we cant under estimate its effect upon us. How do we counter it if we acknowledge that our jealousy is rampant? Well, if we develop the kindness we have to include compassion for others, thats one way. In our minds we can wish them well, be happy for them. We can then embark on goals to reach a similar position of owning such possessions. So that process- accepting your jealousy as being normal, feeling happiness for the other person that they reached a goal, developing similar goals and planning to achieve it. Jealousy is not dissimilar to many other feelings in that sometimes these common reactions need management. The theme wanting an item someone else has purchased is ok, it's when those emotions overflow, go beyond the norm is when it has developed to become a problem. EG Your neighbours new sports car costs $60,000. After a few weeks of agonising over wanting a similar car you sign the dotted line and raise your debt $50,000 to take delivery of one. Your neighbours kids are grown up, he's retired and his work payout paid for the car. You have two young kids, one wage and a high mortgage. You can see where I'm coming from. I'm 66yo. I have a friend that went through these feelings (to buy an expensive motorcycle) when his wife was pregnant with their first child. He wanted a car like mine. I suggested he "wait till his kids are grown up" his answer "no, I want it now".Such has the latest generations changed from waiting to getting it NOW. That friend now has 4 young sons and one child on the way. You cant have everything anytime. So jealousy has its ramifications at the extreme. Dont punish yourself if you want what others have got, its quite ok TonyWK

white knight Equality (Parenting), how important is it?
  • replies: 5

The Child Support Agency among other Government departments, have moved towards or even fully to, equality in terms of parenting of children. I think this is a good move. Gone are the days when mothers outranked fathers in terms of "but I gave birth ... View more

The Child Support Agency among other Government departments, have moved towards or even fully to, equality in terms of parenting of children. I think this is a good move. Gone are the days when mothers outranked fathers in terms of "but I gave birth to our child and I'm the mother" as being the norm. Fathers are just as important but as a dad myself that experienced a failed marriage when my girls were 7 and 4yo in 1996 I can tell you that many shunned me for not "sticking it out". My ex said "I'm the mother so the kids should stay with me" and a few days later "I'm the mother so you'll pay child support and have visits every second weekend". This dictation of terms was actually accurate them days of prediction of where it would all end up and indeed that remained so for the next 14 years. Courts favoured the mother. The issue for this post to address is- just because parents separate and one parent cares for the child/children more than the other (time wise) should not result in a situation whereby the other parent is less of a parent. Fast forward 5 years and parent and teacher night was coming up. I contacted our childrens mother to ask if she'd be interested in accompanying me and the kids to that event. "Nah, all that is taken care of, you dont have to worry about the girls education just do your visits". I felt like a favourite uncle. I attended alone. This isnt about me, my kids are grown up now. It is a reflection on how it used to be and my sadness when I hear about a father , less often a mother, being treated as less of a parent. It is all too familiar that one parent holds deep resentment to the other parent and sometimes tries to rid them from the scene altogether. IF the parent with visitations is a non abusive parent (that's important) then embrace that as a lucky prize even if you now loathe him/her. He/she is equal in terms of the role of parent, that is important that you hold that close to your heart for your children's future because down the track resentment can emerge from the children for any maltreatment of the other parent. To give our kids the best possible life under those circumstances we should make an effort to be friendly to the other parent. My ex was toxic to me. It was really hard for both of us to talk but we did make that effort for 10-20 minutes once a month in front of the kids at the gate when dropping them off. Our children laughed and played in our presence even though my fatherhood was undermined by her. TonyWK

Sad_Anxious being stonewalled
  • replies: 30

Hello I'm new here and I need your advice. I've been feeling very anxious lately I cannot calm down since my partner is not talking to me for the past week at all. I am in an online relationship for the past 4 years. Last couple of years were quite d... View more

Hello I'm new here and I need your advice. I've been feeling very anxious lately I cannot calm down since my partner is not talking to me for the past week at all. I am in an online relationship for the past 4 years. Last couple of years were quite difficult on us due to COVID issues and inability to travel freely. It caused problems with us that my partner did not wish to discuss. The problems just grew more. I became more needy and wishing to resolve it and he withdrew and became quite annoyed with me and every time I would try to discuss issues he would hung up and not talk to me for a day or two. Last couple of months were quite hard and he wanted some time without me previously and we would talk again when I w messaged him how he was. We would be ok for few days and then problems would reemerge since we never resolved them. So again he wanted time off, week of not talking and I'm feeling very hurt and anxious, and abandoned. I am not messaging him this time and waiting for him to message me. I'm not sure what to do. I cannot stop thinking about him, I can't stop thinking of what did I do to drive him away. I blame myself, I feel deep sadness. I am having often anxiety attacks and difficulty sleeping and constantly checking my phone. I've been left in limbo not sure what to think and what to do. I'm feeling lost. I have nobody to discuss this. What do you think I should do? if it's better to let him be for the moment, do you have any tips how to calm down, how to redirect my thoughts as I'm feeling almost sick from stress inside that I don't show to anyone. Thank you

Bingk6 Marriage Advice Needed
  • replies: 9

Hi All, My wife and I have been married for over 30 years and have two fully grown and independent children. Recently, things have got testy and its hurting our relationship. Just for background, my wife is very close to her family and frequently che... View more

Hi All, My wife and I have been married for over 30 years and have two fully grown and independent children. Recently, things have got testy and its hurting our relationship. Just for background, my wife is very close to her family and frequently checks in on them as they are elderly and require support. Her parents do not speak any English, and despite my wife having 4 other siblings, takes upon the bulk of the responsibility for parental support. Personally, I don't really have an issue with that and have personally chipped in whenever I can to help out if necessary. So much so, we moved houses about 15 years, just so that she can be closer to her family. Over the last few years, my wife started developing signs of arthritis and its impeding her movement somewhat and so she is getting concerned about her own well-being, which I can understand. Our plans are that when we retire, we would like to spend a lot of time travelling overseas, especially now that the kids are all grown up, but the timing of it all has accelerated due to her arthritis. It was always the intention to commence travelling once both sets of our parents have passed. As her parents are older than my own parents, she now wants to commence as soon her mum passes (her dad passed about 7 years ago). My own parents are not young either (both >80) and they too need support from time to time. However, my wife now gets upset whenever I visit my parents, saying that they need to learn to take care of themselves and to not bother me as I am a married man. The thing that upsets me is that I have always supported my wife when her family needed help, but when its time for my family to need some assistance, her response is that you have siblings, why can't somebody else do it and generally gives me a hard time about it every time we visit. On the one hand, I sympathise with the situation with my wife's situation with arthritis, but cannot help feeling that her attitude is "now that my parents have been taken care of, I really don't care what happens to yours". I would appreciate some honest feedback here.

Mochiibee I wish i had a loving family
  • replies: 7

I was supposed to pay the internet bill a few days ago because id finally be able to keep my money for once and save up so i can finally leave this house.. They aren't too happy with me atm.. I guess it was my fault like always, i spoke rudely to the... View more

I was supposed to pay the internet bill a few days ago because id finally be able to keep my money for once and save up so i can finally leave this house.. They aren't too happy with me atm.. I guess it was my fault like always, i spoke rudely to them but only because they treat me the same. im not even allowed to speak my feelings, they always make it about themselves or saying im "talking back". all i can ever do is cry or make vent drawings because its the only way i can express my feelings quietly without being told to "shut up" but i cant even draw now because i broke my phone, i also use my phone to submit reports so i can receive my youth pay (i live in Australia) so i cant do that either.. My father wont even help because hes still pressed about the internet bill, i was told to buy it myself but how can i if i cant receive pay? Thankfully a friend ive known for a few years offered to help! it feels like when ever i speak to my parents or ask them for something, they sound annoyed with me like i did something wrong.. Was it really that wrong to save money? Everything i do just leads to fights, i just wanna leave already

littlegirllost My depression ruined my marriage, I pushed him away, I thought ending it was the right thing to do
  • replies: 17

Hi I have been through 3 miscarriages, PND with both my pregnancies - 7 years & 3 years ago - this then progressed to severe depression which I am now managing with regular psychology appointments and anti-depressants. Throughout the last 3 years I f... View more

Hi I have been through 3 miscarriages, PND with both my pregnancies - 7 years & 3 years ago - this then progressed to severe depression which I am now managing with regular psychology appointments and anti-depressants. Throughout the last 3 years I found myself shutting the most important people to me out of my life. I was consumed by exhaustion and guilt that I thought nobody else could understand. It was during this time that I made the worst decision of my life - to leave my marriage of 10 years and break up our family. I thought this was what I wanted, what my family needed, but I regret it all now. my reasoning at the time was to remove myself in order to fix myself, my husband asked me to work on the relationship by getting counseling together but I couldn’t wrap my head around doing it until I was feeling better about myself. My depression was holding me hostage. I felt suffocated. I only moved out in March this year, the separation is finalized financially and we have 50/50 custody of our two beautiful kids. Now that I have had some time to recover and work on my self-love, I’m finding myself deeply regretting the decisions I’ve made for our family. I want him back, I want our family back, I’m ready to start loving again. Why couldn’t I take the steps to make us work? I hate myself for not trying harder. I have poured my heart out to him so he does know where I stand, I’ve apologized for my behavior - without sounding desperate. When he finally agreed that I could move out, he said that we are over and there is no way we’d get back together as I’ve destroyed him. Is there any chance for us? Has anyone in a similar situation reconnected with their ex? Should I let things run their course? Any advice is appreciated. Thank you ps - I’m not just going through a phase and I don’t want to move on with anyone else. I don’t just want him because it feels familiar...I am truly still in love with him

moocow_1 How do I respond to my partner's negativity?
  • replies: 10

My partner has depression and anxiety and I just want some advice on how I should respond when he messages me and it is negative. The negativity is not necessarily directed at me but it's almost as if he can't seem to find joy or happiness in anythin... View more

My partner has depression and anxiety and I just want some advice on how I should respond when he messages me and it is negative. The negativity is not necessarily directed at me but it's almost as if he can't seem to find joy or happiness in anything at the moment. He goes through periods of highs and lows I have noticed. At the moment he's in the low mood where he speaks about the whole world being place where no-one cares for anyone else, everyone just wants what they want and they don't care about any one else, no-one wants to work or sacrifice but he does. He speaks sometimes as if he is some sort of supreme God where he does nothing wrong and is just the best and everyone else is crap. I feel like I'm never good enough, I don't answer the way he wants me to when he asks questions, he always thinks I'm trying to do things to stuff him around mentally. As if everything is a personal attack on him. He acts like he is so hard done by and that he is the only person in the world that anything is hard for and if everyone in the world is doing things just to make him angry or upset. It's so frustrating. I don't know how to respond to the constant negativity. He will counter argue anything positive I try to say with something negative. I can't win no matter what I do or how I act. I feel like everything with him is a test. I feel like I'm always failing. It's as if he loves to tell me how much he sacrifices for me and my children every day by working so hard, we are all ungrateful etc etc. Should I argue back at him or should I let it all just go? I feel like he would argue with me to get his point across and I would not argue just so I can have peace. I'm at such a loss as to how to respond to him in just every day conversations these days. It's not ok for him to be nasty or mean or hurtful. I'm not anyones emotional punching bag. I had an emotionally abusive ex husband. I don't need an emotionally abuse partner now!