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Sunday, May. 19, 2024

1:56pm EDT

Members: 997

Guests: 718

Total Online: 1,715

Are You Listening???

by Charlie ~

Rated: GC · Book · Emotional · #2181458

A journey of self-improvement - or not.

Sup? I'm Char.
You may know me from timeless classics such as

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#2030442 by Not Available.

and

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#1974611 by Not Available.

I blog for things like

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FORUM

30-Day Blogging Challenge ON HIATUS

(13+)
WDC's Longest Running Blog Competition - Hiatus
#1786069 by Fivesixer

FORUM

JAFBG

(XGC)
Because real life isn't always roses and sunshine...
#2094931 by Elisa the Bunny Stik

[Embed For Use By Upgraded+]
Believin' all the lies that they're tellin' ya
Buyin' all the products that they're sellin' ya
They say jump and ya say "how high?"
Ya braindead, ya got a fuckin' bullet in ya head

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

intuey

Jul 22, 2023 at 8:05am
In response to "Invalid Entry"

Hey Char, It's been a while since I've touched base with you. I'm so sorry for your loss. The last thing people should say is everyone loses their grandparents eventually, or it will get better with time. It's the last thing you want to hear when you're hurting. Death sucks, long-lasting illness sucks! Having to decide to let the person go to keep them from suffering REALLY SUCKS! I think the only ones who can understand truly just how much are those who have had to make that decision. My heart breaks for you.

I'm not religious, but I do have a strong faith in God. I call myself spiritual because I don't agree with all the rules and regulations of religion. I do know I will see my family and friends again, and this is a great comfort. I can only imagine how much more painful the death of loved ones is without this belief. But you're right, it can't be faked. But it is a beautiful thing.

Having mental health issues during times like this makes it even harder to go through. I know what you mean about seeing things that aren't there. I'd walk into a room, and say, "Where's Star?" and she would be sitting right in front of me. When I looked, I swear I saw an empty chair. The mind is crazy. It gives new meaning to a mind of its own

Some time has passed since you wrote this. I don't know when you'll see this but know that you are in my thoughts and prayers, and I'm sending good energy your way. I hope you're doing better. I look forward to hearing from you.

Aiva Raine

Mar 28, 2023 at 9:40pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

I'm sorry for your loss. I know they are shitty sounding words that don't even attempt to fill or fix, but they're meant in sincerity.

Having lost several people the best advice I was ever given was when life gets too hard- take it at your own pace. If a day is too much- cope with an hour at a time. If that's too much, take it ten minutes at a time. If that's too much- then you deal with one minute at a time. Work through life and grief at your pace. And don't ever feel guilty because you feel sad. And if you can- find one positive in each chunk of time- even if it's something as little as the beauty of sunlight on a leaf or the softness of your shirt. And ask for help if you need it.

Elle - on hiatus

Mar 7, 2023 at 3:29pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

Aw, Charlie, I'm so sorry. It's a shit thing to go through whether it's sudden or not. And just because everyone goes through it, doesn't make it easier. It also doesn't take into account that you were closer to them than your parents. Nobody says 'Oh, everyone loses their parents eventually' do they? Surely not. And that's what's happened here really. I'm actually glad you've got an appointment with a professional tomorrow, because they might be able to help you with getting through that initial devastation.

When my dad lost his mother, he really struggled with his own lack of religion. As you say, there is some comfort in believing they've gone to a better place, been reunited with loved ones, that you'll see them again, and so on. For most of my life, Dad would say 'Religion is a crutch for the weak', but I definitely saw him struggle with the finality of it when he lost his mother, the person he was probably closest to.

My thoughts are with you.

1 Like

~Minja~

Mar 7, 2023 at 3:21pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

Crazy stuff, grief. If you want to talk about it, message me always.

1 Like

QPdoll

Mar 7, 2023 at 6:21am
In response to "Invalid Entry"

I understand what you mean about wanting to tell your grandmother something. I did the same thing after my grandmother passed. I was at home and the first thing I thought was to call grandma. I picked up the phone and realized that she wouldn't answer. It's so tough losing your grandparents, especially as close as you were. I don't have any magic words, but take care of yourself. It's what they would want.

1 Like

Robert Waltz

Mar 6, 2023 at 10:31pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

Take care of yourself during this difficult time.

1 Like

Anni Pon

Mar 6, 2023 at 9:06pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

I know it doesn't help any, but I'm so sorry for your loss. I can't imagine much worse than losing a parent or parental figure. They represent stability and safety, you grew up with them, and you've relied on them for most, if not all, of your life. You're right, the initial devastation will fade and things won't feel so fresh. But, as you know, grief never really goes away. It just becomes a permanent part of you.

It's horrible that you only got a couple days worth of bereavement! That's not even long enough for the shock to wear off enough to START grieving. I hope you have the support of someone else in your life to help you through this dark time. Take it easy on yourself in the mean time, that's all you really can do. Taking care of your physical self, eating and sleeping, is critical. Sleep deprivation and hunger will make things feel a million times worse than they actually are (which, for the record, is already pretty bad).

1 Like

Harlow Flick, Right Fielder

Mar 6, 2023 at 8:56pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

This is such a very human thing, isn't it.

“I think there is nearly an overwhelming sadness to the human predicament.” - Skinny Boy Hill

BOOM! This ain’t no whipped cream pie I’m tossing.

1 Like

Cinn

Feb 20, 2023 at 9:34pm
In response to "Invalid Entry"

I actually pretty much love this one. Nice, man...

Cinn

Feb 19, 2023 at 11:07am
In response to "Invalid Entry"

I'd say that more freedom for participants would attract more people. One obvious example that I've never understood is fiction vs poetry. If it's an activity, not a contest, why not allow people to explore whatever the theme of your activity is with whatever type of writing that want to do?

I've actually written for countless contests/activities over the years but never entered... because they inspired me, but I don't fit within the guidelines. Max rating too low, items required (book entries only over here), no poetry accepted, etc.

I know well why people restrict writers' freedom, but they're also restricting the number of participants they'll get. I still just take the inspiration where I can get it.

June 9, 2020 at 5:20pm

#985349

Mental health support forum for all

I'll keep this brief for everyone's sake...

But, I've decided to open "Invalid Item"

back up in some capacity. It's going to look a lot different than before and it's going to be easier on everyone (especially me) to run.

When I got the idea for the group back in 2018, I was really just prompted by seeing people posting a lot of their struggles on the newsfeed, in their blogs, and through their writing on the site. I thought it would be great to have a place where people could congregate and rant about whatever's on their mind, support each other, and talk about writing things that are related to mental health.

Of course, I had a lot of difficulty running the group the way I had planned because I myself have mental health issues that impede my ability to do basic shit that everyone else can do easily.

But, I had a lot on my side because I had a lot of wonderful donors (huge shoutout to Fivesixer

, Hannah ♫♥♫

, and Lilli 🧿 ☕

, and others.) In fact, the group still has quite a few GPs in it just sitting there.

Nothing happened that made me close the group. It was just one of those things where your mental health is cracking and everything in your sight is like, "No, I'm done. I'm done." So that's what happened with the group a few months ago. I figured I'd end up reopening at some point in the future, but this second reiteration is NOT going to look like the first go-around.

Primarily because:

1. I'm not tracking participation in anything. Ever.

2. I'm not guaranteeing prizes for participation. Ever.

You participate if you want, when you want. I'm not keeping a tracker of whether you've participated or not and I'm not going to give you a reward just for being around. Straight up.

So instead of having a monthly challenge and private support forum, I've just created ONE forum that is open to the entire WDC community.

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This is a spot to rant about whatever's on your mind, post your writing, discuss anything going on in your world, review other people's writing, support each other, etc. You don't have to be a group member to participate although you can be if you want to receive emails.

And I'm only going to do 3 things each Sunday (which should add up to maybe 10 minutes total):

1. Updating the spotlighted "WDC Friend in Need" member.
The WDC Friend in Need is someone who has been nominated by the community to receive a little extra love that week whether it's because they're stressed out, posted something in the newsfeed about losing their job, they've lost a family member, they're ill, they're going through a breakup, or they're just struggling and general and could use a little uplift via reviews, MBs, awardicons, raffle tickets, cNotes, or messages of support.

You can nominate people for this spotlight and get more information here:

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.

2. Updating the weekly discussion topic.
I'm going to post a weekly discussion topic in the forum just to keep the conversation flowing or in case anyone wants to participate but doesn't know where to start. Forum conversation is in no way limited to that discussion topic. It's just there if you need it.

3. Updating the weekly writing prompt.
This is just a creative writing prompt that you can use for writing a poem, story, blog entry, whatever. You can post your completed work in the forum if you want and maybe someone will read it and comment/review it.

This will be a lot easier for me to manage because I won't have to track who's doing what and because there's no set rewards attached to it, I can just enjoy supporting people who need support instead of trying to make sure everything is being done "fairly" for the group's sake. Also, you'll be happy to know that I'm not changing anything else with this group. It's one support forum open to everyone on the site. If the forum dies off because there isn't a need for it, it's no issue for me.

At least then I can say in naturally fizzled out instead of me pulling the plug because I had a BPD episode.

I know that there's a need for this type of forum in some capacity. I've had people asking me if I'm ever planning to reopen since I closed it, especially with everything that's going on in the world right now. I see people posting in their blogs and in the newsfeed all the time, clearly reaching out and getting little to no support.

If we can get the group into the hands of the people who need it, at the very least I'll be able to provide some level of support for those people, even if it's just me alone. I'm going to tag some people though who I think might be able to help me get the word out that I'm reopening the group (without making me sound like a total tool for closing it in the first place.

SB Musing