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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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Nanabanana Thank you
  • replies: 3

I don't know if I'm posting the right forum but, Eight weeks ago, I was very stressed, depressed, and anxious then I stepped into this website and had talked to one of the staff. She gave me an empowering of willing to fight and keep going then after... View more

I don't know if I'm posting the right forum but, Eight weeks ago, I was very stressed, depressed, and anxious then I stepped into this website and had talked to one of the staff. She gave me an empowering of willing to fight and keep going then after that I decided to see a psychologist. Now I'm in the 5th session and still working on it. Thank you beyondblue. Take care everyone

Haggisinoz Life Coaching
  • replies: 4

Afternoon everyone, I hope everyone is safe and well. I wanted to share a recent experience which really helped me personally and I also think anyone can benefit from this no matter where you are in life or what struggles you are experiencing. One of... View more

Afternoon everyone, I hope everyone is safe and well. I wanted to share a recent experience which really helped me personally and I also think anyone can benefit from this no matter where you are in life or what struggles you are experiencing. One of my close friend recently started her own life coaching business and although I was very supportive of this I have always questioned the value of Life Coaching and if this was just all a bit too fluffy to be of value. Personally I have always felt like I was lacking some direction in life and sometimes questioned what I was trying to achieve. Personally for myself I think this probably comes from not having a solid family foundation and always having felt an underlying struggle to find my path in life. I made the decision to start coaching because I knew in myself I was starting to feel a bit lost in life in general and I needed some structure. I can honestly say that this was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I soon realised that the process was very clear and ultimately was directed by myself. My two goals were to work on my career and securing a role in the Community Services sector having worked in financial services for the past 20yrs. I also wanted to focus on myself and building my own self confidence. Having now finished the process I have taken the first steps in changing career having commenced my studies in Mental Health and the process has increased my own self confidence and general life direction which has been so valuable for me. I can only speak for myself but I think that in life it's rally common to feel lost sometimes and we can forget who we are and what we are trying to achieve. This process helped me work on my own personal goals and to really break down whats important to me in life and to make them a reality. I would recommend life coaching to anyone who needs some support and structure but I know that this can also be an expensive excercise. Another option is to set some simple life goals which is a great first step to steering your life in the right direction. I think the most important thing is to make yourself accountable become otherwise it's just not going to be of value. Taking some simple steps like this can have a significant impact in your life, it did for me! Take care (;

Aaronsis Your tail lights aren't working!
  • replies: 3

A dear friend asked me yesterday: "If you took your car to be serviced and when leaving your friends house, your friend noticed your tail lights were not working, would you want them to tell you?" My response was "yes, yes I would"....... He told me ... View more

A dear friend asked me yesterday: "If you took your car to be serviced and when leaving your friends house, your friend noticed your tail lights were not working, would you want them to tell you?" My response was "yes, yes I would"....... He told me "I want to let you know your tail lights are not working!".....confusion..then the penny dropped!!! This lead to a conversation about how I am and also am not taking care of me....which lead me to post this and remind us all of looking out for our friends, and letting them know that they may need to STOP...take a breathe..and regroup...to let our friends know in the nicest possible way "your tail lights are not working!" I had some time to reflect yesterday...there were tears and there was some time that I took for me, which I have not been doing lately....time to do nothing...time to make some choices and to make some commitments to myself to take better care of me.... I am a mother, an employee, a manager, a mother to three cats, a BB Community Champ, a sister, a best friend, a daughter, a granddaughter and I need to be around to fill these roles, I need to be well and to be happy, I want to be well and happy. I have woken up today with a whole new feeling of happiness and of feeling content. So please, if you see your friend who's tail lights might be broken or even just flashing, please reach out...it might just be the gentle nudge they need before the lights not working turns into a car accident! Thank you my friend! I am extremely grateful! Hugs Sarah

iitzMickle My struggles and what help me beat them.
  • replies: 2

Hey all, new to here so might not be the best structured post but wanted to a share a little about my life struggles and some things that helped me overcome them so here goes: When I was growing up I moved back to Australia when I was about 12 to liv... View more

Hey all, new to here so might not be the best structured post but wanted to a share a little about my life struggles and some things that helped me overcome them so here goes: When I was growing up I moved back to Australia when I was about 12 to live with my dad. His girlfriend at the time was pretty horrible to me and would say things such as”No wonder your mother didn’t want you” and other stuff that no child should have to endure. It was fairly consistent and fairly brutal and it got to the point where I ended up pulling the pin out of my door handle on my room and spending most of my time locked in my room away from her basically in solitude or I would go over to my next door neighbours house and stay with them sometimes overnight etc. Eventually when I was 14 I moved in with my sister and her partner everything was good for a while but eventually I saw the dark side of him(I had seen it when visiting before but not to this extent) he became physically and verbal abusive towards her in front of me and my niece who was only a toddler at the time. I lived with this for about 2-3 years also copping some physical and verbal abuse from him myself in this time before I decided to run away from home. All of this lead me to live a life where I tried to avoid conflict and keep everyone happy hiding my own needs and feelings in the process. Due to this I suffered from Anxiety and Depression and still sometimes do my relationships with the opposite sex were unhealthy because I would always try my hardest to please in turn making myself come across needy and clingy. I recently wrote out my own suicide not and considered actually following through before speaking to a friend who ended up putting me onto a podcast called “the mindset mentor” hosted by Rob Dial. I started listening to this and implementing his advice into the way I think and I began reading self help books such as “the subtle art of not giving a f**k” By Mark Manson I soon came to realise that all of these thoughts in my head I could actually change them given the right amount of effort and a steer in the right direction. It was only a month or less ago that I wrote my own suicide note and I’ve already had close family and friends comment on how this is the happiest they have seen me. I felt disconnected from my friends and family because I didn’t want to be vulnerable and I have managed to turn that around and hope my message can help others in similar positions realise it’s achievable

Suebris I think this is MY problem : Coping with non-abusive partner who drinks
  • replies: 5

I have recently moved in with my partner of 3 years and much to my surprise he drinks a bottle of wine most nights. He gets a little bit funny (laughs more easily), and more jovial, and sweet! Most of you would be saying at this point - what is the p... View more

I have recently moved in with my partner of 3 years and much to my surprise he drinks a bottle of wine most nights. He gets a little bit funny (laughs more easily), and more jovial, and sweet! Most of you would be saying at this point - what is the problem? Well I have come out of a 10 year, abusive DV relationship which was aggravated by alcohol and drugs (8 years ago), and I had to run for my life in the middle of the night. I experienced PTSD and have gradually built my life up again from scratch. 3 years ago I met my partner who was so different to anyone I have ever been in a relationship with - we love each other and everything is fair and equitable. My family and friends love him and everyone says we are good together. We've been on extended holidays together and I had never witnessed excessive alcohol consumption until now... but we didn't see much of each other during the week, only on weekends, so I guess I didn't really notice until I moved in. I have told him that it makes me uncomfortable and he seems concerned about this and apologises, but it completely triggers me and frankly revolts me - makes me not want to go near him. He is a very good man - my adult son passed 2 years ago and he was amazing throughout that period - so supportive and I honestly don't know how I would have gotten through without him... but now I am full of fear that everything is going to collapse around me...and i cant stand seeing him drink wine ( beer doesn't seem to make him intoxicated), but wine makes him drunk and the bedroom smells of alcohol and then he snores. He is in the midst of a marriage separation and has also come out of a very controlling relationship ( he is still very controlled by his ex), so maybe this is his way of dealing with it, but it seems to be becoming a nightly ritual, which scares me. Is this more my problem than his?

white knight Your secret for mind control?
  • replies: 5

I have my days. Today was one of them. A day cleaning up my garage, my favourite place where I tinker and build things. But today as I toiled with the cleaning my mind was fixed on past experiences. Do any of you have lack of mind control? Or if you ... View more

I have my days. Today was one of them. A day cleaning up my garage, my favourite place where I tinker and build things. But today as I toiled with the cleaning my mind was fixed on past experiences. Do any of you have lack of mind control? Or if you have control on your thoughts how do you drop the bad thoughts so you can focus on good things? Maybe cleaning is at fault. A boring procedure. Might have to leave that job to my wife next time lol while I go indoors to cook my unique custard cookies.

SapereAude Music Good For Mental Health
  • replies: 2

Hi all, Hope you are all going okay. What music do you find improves your mental health or relaxes you? Cheers and take care

Hi all, Hope you are all going okay. What music do you find improves your mental health or relaxes you? Cheers and take care

white knight Symbolic tokens to assist the mind
  • replies: 5

I love words. One word I’ve always warmed to is Mnemonics. Mnemonics (pronounced without the M) means “to assist the memory”. So at school we had an early Menonic in algebra. A word made up was BODMAS and as you can see 45 years on I still recall tha... View more

I love words. One word I’ve always warmed to is Mnemonics. Mnemonics (pronounced without the M) means “to assist the memory”. So at school we had an early Menonic in algebra. A word made up was BODMAS and as you can see 45 years on I still recall that word. One had to remember what order to carry out mathematical equations. Brackets, division, minus, addition and subtraction (BODMAS) I personally extended this Mnemonic method to all forms of my life where I needed to remember processes. In the RAAF for example or the prisons I’d apply it to safety proceedures, in Fire stations I’d apply it to the danger level of chemicals in storage warehouses. It has served me well rather than remembering 1-20 chemicals I’d make up a word. And as time has gone on I’ve modified this so it slots in with my method of thinking. Australian cricket is a fine example. Every 4 years we play against England for the “ashes”. The “ashes”…a tiny urn the size little bigger than a golf ball, said to contain the ashes of wickets burned in Sunbury many decades ago. Both countries fight for the honour of that urn! a symbolic token albeit historic Apply that symbolism to the mind is no different. Remember the saying “it’s the thought that counts”? Give a lady a rose you picked from your garden on Valentines day should be admired probably more than flower sent by courier? (and cheaper). What about a tiny daisy held in your hand as you return indoors to apologise for something? Symbolic tokens that can change the course of your life, it can be that powerful. A post here by you the member can change anothers life. The humility of that is that you would not likely ever know. Humility, one of lifes most fabulous gifts. Hundreds could read it…they might not reply but they have absorbed your words. Symbolism can be effectively used as a positive thinking aid. It took me a long time to get my head around this. How can you turn things from negative to positive. It's got to the stage now that I pity those that cannot as it is truly life changing. As an example. Upset one day I sat on my garden seat tears falling. I picked a flower. PROBLEM FLOWER Of all my problems I pick a daisy flower I take a petal for each of my woes and count them by the hour And when finished this flower destroyed my problems as big as a city tower I thought I had lots of issues but not as many as that flower... Using a destroyed flower as a symbolic token. Tony WK

SapereAude Mobile Phone Apps
  • replies: 4

Hi, Has anyone found any free (preferably) mobile phone apps that help with mental health issues? Cheers and take care

Hi, Has anyone found any free (preferably) mobile phone apps that help with mental health issues? Cheers and take care

Nico_B Cultivating Self-Love
  • replies: 4

Hello friends! Please enjoy a ~3 minute read of my musings on cultivating the essence of self-love, and finding ways to care for yourself, your community and our planet. I've included a bunch of references throughout, featuring tips, tricks and links... View more

Hello friends! Please enjoy a ~3 minute read of my musings on cultivating the essence of self-love, and finding ways to care for yourself, your community and our planet. I've included a bunch of references throughout, featuring tips, tricks and links to some amazing humans and businesses. As our ability to form in-person connections is restricted, self-love feels particularly relevant and I hope you take something away from this. --- Cultivating Self-Love - Techniques to care for yourself, your community and our planet To me, self-love is self-care. Fill your mind with inspiration, your body with nutrition, your life with meaning. Have compassion for others, support your community, be kind to the planet. Self-love is finding stillness of the mind, body and soul. Meditating, breathing deeply, slowing down, practicing gratitude, detaching from outcomes, emptying the mind. Self-love is self-worth. You are loved and you are enough as you are. Your imperfections are your personal perfections. Self-love is setting healthy boundaries. Being in alignment with yourself and others. Knowing when to say yes and when to say no. Self-love is accepting it’s okay to not be okay when you feel demotivated, unfulfilled or purposeless. You are allowed to feel this way and you are not alone. Self-love is being in flow, however that looks for you. Reading, writing and drawing, gardening, cooking and eating, listening to and playing music, movement, sport and exercise, spending time in nature. Self-love is co-creating community, building connection with others and finding something greater than yourself. Self-love is having sacred practices, like a regular morning routine. Self-love is having carefree practices and keeping things fun, simple and playful. Self-love is allowing others to love you through heartfelt sincerity, openness, expression, transparency and vulnerability. Self-love is exploration. Take risks, test boundaries, get comfortable with the uncomfortable, go to the edges of your comfort zone. Self-love is going a bit easier on yourself. We all make mistakes and we are all wrong, all of the time. It’s okay. Self-love is a boomerang. If you don’t serve yourself, you can’t sustainably support others. As you serve others, your cup will fill up. Self-love is a mirror. Hold it up and see yourself for all that you are. Embrace your uniqueness. Self-love is a friend. Love all that you are being and becoming. Nico