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Just Sara A Bouquet for Pearls - share your appreciation for other members
  • replies: 715

Every now and then, members share a beautiful Pearl of Wisdom. How often do you think to yourself; "OMG that's great! I wish everyone could see this." Presenting someone with a bunch of flowers is a generous way of acknowledging their insightful word... View more

Every now and then, members share a beautiful Pearl of Wisdom. How often do you think to yourself; "OMG that's great! I wish everyone could see this." Presenting someone with a bunch of flowers is a generous way of acknowledging their insightful words. I hope this thread stays active through members giving out praise regularly to people they feel deserving, and therefore keep generosity of spirit alive within the pages of BeyondBlue Forum. My bunch of Red Roses (my choice) goes to Wishful for the following sentence; 'Personally, I see no reason to be praised in me, but I'm learning that seeing through the eyes of others can be more accurate!!' I so hear you Wishful. Just beautiful... Try to keep your leading comments short to focus on 'their' words. Choose specific flowers (or a gift if you like) to present to them. Sign off respectfully and sincerely. I hope this takes off... Spreading the love...Sara

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white knight Are you after a miracle cure?
  • replies: 5

You broke your leg. An ambulance is called, they pin your leg, moon boot, pain and 8 weeks later you walk normally. A miracle. Not so the struggles with mental illness. Yet in these BB pages we are seemingly bombarded by sufferers of mental illness w... View more

You broke your leg. An ambulance is called, they pin your leg, moon boot, pain and 8 weeks later you walk normally. A miracle. Not so the struggles with mental illness. Yet in these BB pages we are seemingly bombarded by sufferers of mental illness who draw no distinction between the two. Person develops depression then a labyrinth of twists and turns take hold from denial to even hospital admission and everything in between. It is scary for many as they weave their way through the unknown, add to that the deplorable health system and even misdiagnosis. It is full on stress until things settle. It's like we really need a monopoly board just for our help. eg partner is in denial go back 3 spaces to see your GP together. Take a chance- pursue a correct diagnosis advance to GO. It is really difficult to accept that most mental illnesses need to be managed for the rest of our lives rather than seeking cure. "The rest of our lives" sheesh, that's like- forever!!! crikey...how am I going to handle that? Well its really an attitude/state of mind thing not unlike any other life changing event. Marriage, becoming a parent, suffering grief. Add to that taking medication regularly and accepting ups and downs as part of your routine like waves ebb and waves flow. Sometimes we need to go through many hurdles before we settle. Education plays a large part of this. The more we learn about our illness the more expert we become until there is little else to know except latest research news. If you don't read up on your illness, your medications, share experiences with others including BB and reject therapy then you are in for a bumpy ride with more confusion and questions rather than knowing where you are at with it. Knowledge is power. Power is confidence and confidence is essential to endurance of your symptoms. Confidence and knowledge of your illness also has a big benefit, it gives you that little more wisdom when those bad times come around. You know the ones, when you want to walk away from life as you know it...escape? This has happened to me a number of times in recent years especially when having a fallout with my wife (she has depression, I have depression bipolar 2 and dysthymia). I know, no matter how bad I feel that a few hours later I'll feel better. A day later you wonder what all the fuss was about and I'm almost back to normal. So the closest thing to a miracle cure IMO is education. Keep reading threads here on this site. Tony WK

sadgirl57 Following your gut to find happiness
  • replies: 15

So this is more a question in terms of staying well rather than tips because I personally find my depression is due to trying to find not an easy path but a path that gets me to at least coping and surviving than following my gut. taking risks and do... View more

So this is more a question in terms of staying well rather than tips because I personally find my depression is due to trying to find not an easy path but a path that gets me to at least coping and surviving than following my gut. taking risks and doing things that'll make me genuinely happy and finding my purpose so my question is has anyone used spirituality to get in touch with their intuition, meditation etc to find what they really wanted and go for things that may have not feel like they made sense at the time that turned out to be great? Sorry if this thread isn't fit for here but I just... there's a lifestyle I want to live and things I want to do but I feel so stuck in my current rat-race lifestyle and part of me feels like I should try fit in with the norm and it be against everything I'm about and make the most of it or completely go against the grain and do the best that I can, maybe not be rich but be happy. I don't know. I don't know. I need to find some guidance within myself and want to know if meditation not just helped with the calm but real, life-changing experience. I hope someone can help, no pressure though.

Dwwmills Effort needed to stay well
  • replies: 2

Hello everyone. I would like to ask about the amount of effort it takes to stay well and whether this effort reduces over time. I have suffered from GAD on and off for the last 35 or 40 years. For the last 15 years I would say the anxiety has been at... View more

Hello everyone. I would like to ask about the amount of effort it takes to stay well and whether this effort reduces over time. I have suffered from GAD on and off for the last 35 or 40 years. For the last 15 years I would say the anxiety has been at a level of very average to bad but I’ve just put up with it. A couple years ago my family got together and confronted me with how it was affecting them and made me realise I had to do something about it. This gave me the willpower to tackle the anxiety like I have never tried before. CBT and medication. The first 6 to 9 months were hard but then things rapidly improved to the point where I am now off the medication and my anxiety levels are back to normal. Friends and family have noticed a big difference. I’m becoming aware of the amount of effort it takes and how vigilant I need to be to stay on top of my thinking. Life is going well and there is no great stresses, yet I still need work at catching my thoughts. I’m not lying awake worrying about it at night or stressing too much it’s more of an observation. In some ways I had expected to be doing this this early after finishing medication but I’m wondering if this is likely to reduce the longer I stay well. Hopefully someone with a working crystal ball can give me the answer to this one. I’m just wondering what other people have experienced.

Guest_1055 Smile and say hello
  • replies: 10

Today I thought it would be a great idea to actually smile and verbally say hello to at least one other person. Why? I chose to smile and say hello to the person at the drive through window at McDonald's.

Today I thought it would be a great idea to actually smile and verbally say hello to at least one other person. Why? I chose to smile and say hello to the person at the drive through window at McDonald's.

p2ivate what defines me?
  • replies: 4

as someone who has been through it, one thing that seems to keep me positive is thinking about how to improve our world for the future. a kind of egotistical release, repositioning your mind towards core principles of existence. its easy to do what e... View more

as someone who has been through it, one thing that seems to keep me positive is thinking about how to improve our world for the future. a kind of egotistical release, repositioning your mind towards core principles of existence. its easy to do what everyone else is doing. the singularity is upon us and is currently being led by what. nothing is impossible.

lookingforme Would Like Some Advice on getting better sleep
  • replies: 10

Hi All, Just taking an opportunity to vent some frustration here, maybe get some advice... I've been on my meds for about half a year now and I've had some averages and lows that I've cycled through. I've been on a low recently and I'm trying to work... View more

Hi All, Just taking an opportunity to vent some frustration here, maybe get some advice... I've been on my meds for about half a year now and I've had some averages and lows that I've cycled through. I've been on a low recently and I'm trying to work my way out of it now. Doing little things to reassert control over thinghs in my life. I've been on an exercise regimen and I've been eating healthily. I've established some goals that I'm actually looking forward to achieving (an immense improvement over the beginning of the year). However, the one thing that I cannot seem to shake is my sleep/insomnia... When I first started my meds they put me to sleep rather quickly but I've seemed to outrun that effect. More of a concern is my sleep quality. Again, these meds make it almost impossible to wake up within 12 hours of sleeping. They used to keep me asleep for that time but now I find myself waking up during the night again. And the wuality of the sleep...everytime I wake up I feel like I've run a full marathon, I'm exhausted. And the fatigue doesn't leave me. I guess I'm just wondering if, like my psych says, this will settle down in time (I'm wondering if that means that I have to wait for my current crappy situation to change), and if anyone has some non-chemical things that work for them that I could try?

Blue_skies Simple quote that is helping me
  • replies: 4

Hi, Just wanted to share a quote I came across recently that has been helping me get through feelings of being overwhelmed by what I feel needs to be done on a daily basis. Sometimes just getting the energy and motivation to do the mundane things is ... View more

Hi, Just wanted to share a quote I came across recently that has been helping me get through feelings of being overwhelmed by what I feel needs to be done on a daily basis. Sometimes just getting the energy and motivation to do the mundane things is difficult that it makes it hard to think about the 'bigger' things in life. Anyway, the quote..."Start by doing what's necessary, then do what's possible and suddenly you are doing the impossible". St Francis of Assisi. This has helped me get into motion so to speak, once I just start what is necessary, such as doing the boring washing up or laundry, it sets forth a momentum. Of course, it doesn't always help but it's been useful for me over the past week. When I have gone through serious episodes of depression or anxiety, I even had to write a list of the process of getting myself ready for the day, such as having shower, getting changed, breakfast etc. All mostly necessary, and once done, set forth a process of motion even if that was all I was able to do for the day. If anyone else has an inspiring quote please share.

Lookingforpeace What do you do on a bad day?
  • replies: 5

I'm having a bad day today - anxiety is super high and mood is super low. Literally all I feel like doing is putting my head in my hands and just staying like that all day. how do you cope on a bad day? What do you do to make yourself feel better? View more

I'm having a bad day today - anxiety is super high and mood is super low. Literally all I feel like doing is putting my head in my hands and just staying like that all day. how do you cope on a bad day? What do you do to make yourself feel better?

Missmia Who are we? What are we?
  • replies: 4

Recent insights showed me that the person I actually am has almost never been recognised, but when it was, it was regarded as unacceptable. My existence is not acceptable to my birth mother. My talents were not approved of by my adoptive parents. The... View more

Recent insights showed me that the person I actually am has almost never been recognised, but when it was, it was regarded as unacceptable. My existence is not acceptable to my birth mother. My talents were not approved of by my adoptive parents. They refused to acknowledge anything I achieved. My school refused to see my undeniable scars from domestic physical violence. This insight has deepened my understanding of the extent of the damage done to abused children. People are quick to condemn a perpetrator when he/she is finally outed. But in my view it is society itself that commits the greatest evil, by failing to protect its children from mental and physical violence, including sexual abuse. For this reason, I have concluded that our society is, at heart, a barbaric and hypocritical culture sheltering under a thin veneer of civilisation. And it has the result that many of us (not only the physically abused) at some point subconsciously detect that there is an enormous invisible gap between the illusion provided by our social conditioning, and the actual reality which we experience. Few want to recognise the reality that mental or physical cruelty is perpetrated every single minute on the small, the young, the elderly, the non-conforming and the vulnerable. In my view, it is the unacknowledged existence of this gap, between the story we are supposed to believe and the reality we experience, which is the cause of many symptoms which are generally labeled as signs of mental illness. If you tell someone (especially subliminally) that their bruises and scars don't exist, isn't that a good way to demonstrate that you think they insane, delusional or lying? And if a child/person is told enough times that their perceptions are wrong and their wounds are non-existent, what effect will that have on the person? They will doubt their own sanity, won't they? And then they will worry, and deep anxiety will follow, with depression inevitably following on. If our society would just stop lying about its own "wholesome" nature, and take a long hard look at itself, perhaps we could come up with a more realistic description of who we really are. And who we, as a society, want to be. And start making the changes. Maybe then the gap would shrink. Until then, the outlook for the pharmaceutical companies seems to be rosy.

steph298 Tips for concentration, motivation and focus at work
  • replies: 6

Hi everyone. I desperately need help concentrating at work. I have a highly intensive workload, I am a publicist for a publishing company. I have been seeing a psychologist for almost a year, but only diagnosed with depression about a month ago by my... View more

Hi everyone. I desperately need help concentrating at work. I have a highly intensive workload, I am a publicist for a publishing company. I have been seeing a psychologist for almost a year, but only diagnosed with depression about a month ago by my GP and I've been on SSRI antidepressants about three and a half weeks. I felt minimal side effects to begin with, a bit queasy, a few sleepless nights, but soon felt back to normal. Only problem being normal is completely unmotivated and unable to concentrate. For almost two months I have come to work and just sat at my desk doing absolutely nothing, flicking through online shopping websites, social media etc. I am getting the absolute bare minimum done, replying only to emails that are urgent, and letting the rest slide. My job requires me to work several months in advance which means I I am going to be feeling the impact of letting work slide for a while. Every morning I wake up and tell myself today is the day I am going to get it together, yet I arrive at the desk and sit down and feel like there's a huge wall in front of me. It feels like I'm stuck in a jelly mould and don't have the energy to get out. Does anyone have tips for staying focused at work?