Post of the month - August

Former Member

Afternoon, everyone. :wave:

So, it's the beginning of the month - time for the usual drill! Lots of nominations this month (not unlike last month), so here goes...

First of all we have this post from *rach* nominated by Jo7 from "oh wish to be asleep".

*rach* wrote: »

I really struggle with sleep a lot but over the years have found a few things help:

- reading (it makes your eyes tired and relaxes you)
- journaling (writing down all my thoughts before trying to sleep so there's not too much on my mind)
- music (relaxing, quiet music or even sleep talks)
- turning off all electricals (even music if you have to! but more like the tv and phones etc - my phone going on silent really helps if not totally turned off)
- a hot shower or warm bath (if I could have a bath I would but a shower is just as good, a bit of wind down time)

Those things can help at least relax you. I've found that even if I can't sleep, it's good to at least relax and wind down and allow yourself to switch off a little. It can make a big difference the next day.

- couldn't quote it all, take a look!

Next, we have this post by MikeS (woop ) nominated by ninaballet from this thread.

MikeS wrote: »

I hear you, Starlight. All I can say is seriously well done for coming so far. Even if you are still drinking a lot in a health professional's eyes, you've made massive progress on a personal level and that's what counts. You're definitely in the right place if you're looking for a bit of extra help, though. :yes: It's great too that you've been supported really well by various agencies - a lot of people shy away from them or have been turned off by a bad experience. Nice to see that they really can work well with people! All the best for the future and hopefully see you around.

Now, we have this post by Whowhere from "Being single in the summer" nominated by yellowseahorse.

Whowhere wrote: »

A large proportion of my life was spent on my own, as it does with everyone else. You're seeing happy couples around because that's what you want. What you're not seeing are the tens of thousands of desperately unhappy couples.
You will find someone to be with, of that there is no doubt.

Neeeeext up we have this post from yellowseahorse from "Petition for Bake Off Chat" nominated by butterfly123.

yellowseahorse wrote: »

It was just an idea... We've been talking a bit about community recently and I thought it would be nice to do something a little different. Something that is a bit light-hearted and fun, that people can join in with and get distracted for an hour.

Chat never used to be about "support chat" and "general chat". It was a group of people coming together and sharing everything - the good, the bad and the ugly with a pretty equal mix. I feel that we have lost that mix recently, and I thought (perhaps wrongly) that it would be nice to do something a little different all together.

Fifth, we have this post by littlemiss from this thread nominated by Jo7. Once again it's too big to quote all of it, so go check it out!

littlemiss wrote: »

We all feel like this sometimes, that we need a break, that we're not strong enough, that we're not good enough. But that's just your mind being silly. I've struggled with some of the things you're going through when I was younger. I'm now 31, tried to kill myself once when I was 16, but luckily I failed. I'm saying luckily because today I'm living a great life and would've missed so much if I actually succeeded in ending it all. Some days I still feel terrible, but that's fine. I've learned to accept that I won't feel amazing every day, I won't be happy every day and that it's o.k. to be me. Thinking this way is what has kept sane.

I can only speak from personal experience here, but it's not a requirement to be 100% happy all day - actually by most people's standards that's kinda abnormal. Also don't feel pressured into thinking that you have to be happy, it will actually just make you feel worse as it made me feel like an even bigger failure to be completely honest. If you're feeling overwhelmed acknowledge that you're feeling that way and accept that being sad, overwhelmed or scared is o.k. You're o.k!

Finally, last but not least, we have this post by plugitin nominated by yellowseahorse and baa ram ewe from "How to cope with finishing counselling". So many big posts this month - this is another one you'll need to check out to get all of.

plugitin wrote: »

Finishing counselling is so, so hard. I was completely unprepared for how I reacted, even though we had discussed how it would feel to finish counselling and how I would cope. I thought I would be fine - but only when it did finish did I realise how dependent upon it I had become.
My tips-
Start thinking early about what it is that you have learnt during counselling. This can be about yourself or a technique to cope, or anything really. Make sure you write it down - at the time you might remember but in a few months you might not. By doing this you can remind yourself of the progress you made during the counselling sessions and perhaps be able to try it again if you find yourself in a similar situation.

Discuss with your counsellor whether you could taper your sessions off towards the end. I was used to weekly sessions and the transition to absolutely nothing was really tough. I kept feeling like my head was overflowing and there was no outlet any more. So try having a few sessions fortnightly.

That's all, folks! Get your votes in sometime this month and don't forget to check out the posts I couldn't quote all of, they really are worth a read.