For New Members - Positives Of The Forum

[HëllaBubz]

A place to send your supporter when he needs more help than you do but won't admit it!

 

[Changing4Best]

So much support, and especially when you need it most. So much caring. Good advice....

 

[zaniara]

I must just agree with so much you've all written here! This site has really helped me so much! I can't even grasp how much! But I really don't think I would have made so much progress in my therapy if wasn't for this site. And I have never seen any site so free from bad people giving other people a rough time, there are so many kind and warm-hearted people on this site and so many people giving so much support. Now with the happiness challenge the benefits from this site has increased even more! Just SO very grateful for this site! (For all the good information about how PTSD works too: such as the information about the "ptsd stress cup" and other stuff like that. Information NO-ONE has given me before.)

 

[Philippa]

Just found this awesome thread now, and I am feeling quite honored and humbled to read the posts of members here, and their gratitude and expression of progress and love for this place.

Being here has also given me a real sense of hope that I really had lost all hope of ever regaining. Along with the course in art therapy I took I was able to tap into this sense of hope and my healing has taken leaps and bounds from where I started years ago, when first diagnosed.

Someone here said to me a while back that "I don't think you realize how much you help people here Philippa" and she was right. I hadn't really been able to let myself feel like I was actually being helpful in a real way, but it has helped me feel much better, like I can make a difference, and I have come to really appreciate all the fabulous people here. I really think that pTSD, as hard and painful as it has be and can be, it has made me a better person and made me appreciate people who have been through so much. I am not lying when I say that I think the people here are some of the most decent, caring and genuine people I am ever likely to meet.

I would also like to thank all the moderators and Anthony and Nicolette for putting up with my occasional spats, usually to do with issues I had with quoting.:oops: Those were frustrating times for me, but you all communicated with me respectfully, and I did not feel judged as an idiot (except maybe by myself).

It took me a very long time to accept that I have this injurious condition in my brain, and coming here was initially painful as it forced me to realize that I actually do and that I had changed so much from my former self, which was very hard to accept and come to terms with, as I'm sure you all have experienced. This place has helped me feel that I belong, and that whatever freakish stuff I go through, I am understood and it's all 'normal' in the context of living with PTSD.

I love coming here and being part of this gaggle of geese.:D

 

[Changing4Best]

I got some advice from someone here on the forums today, and it worked just perfectly! No one in the "real" world has ever given me that advice before, and I have had this problem for a LONG time!

 

[AngelKeeperJ]

There are MANY positives here at the forum. From not feeling alone, to being cheered up and cheered on at just the right time. The members here REALLY care about one another, and sometimes it's the only place that will accept us 100% without judgement. THAT is a gift in itself.

I could go on, but the list would be long. I feel I have some TRUE friends here, and they may live halfway across the world, or a State away, but we still relate and enjoy one another!

 

[Changing4Best]

I can be totally open and express my feelings. Folks are REAL here, and since we all share that same thing (PTSD) we can relate to one another like no one else around us can (unless they too are PTSD which is rare, but not impossible. I do have one friend here where I live who is PTSD. It's taken a LONG time to find her though).

Back to these Forums: I so enjoy being here, laughing, crying, releasing the pain. It is better therapy in many ways than my therapist gives to me. Really, if I had to choose between her and this place, I'd choose this place!!!

 

[ninja]

I grew up thinking about the things that haunted me every day, but back then I never would have called it trauma.

I grew up being told that I was wise beyond my years and seemed like an "old soul", but back then I never would have called it experience.

I grew up believing each day was my last, but back then I never would have called it pain.

I grew up feeling a seemingly infinite amount of rage directed at certain people, but back then I never would have thought it was justified.

I grew up understanding that much of my family's foundation was a land mine, but back then I never would have called it abnormal.

I grew up harboring a lot of guilt because of my birth, but back then I never would have called it abuse.

I grew up knowing that my "hurts" were my parents' hurts and their hurts were their parents' hurts... but back then I never would have considered it wrong to allow your child to hold your pain.

This forum is a mirror for me, and in others' stories and wounds I have been able to find the wrongdoing in my own. It has helped me to separate my being from the abuse, and it has given me hope and insight and the awareness of myself on an emotional level – something I haven't be able to do! Slowly, with the help and support of others I have begun to find my courage and strength; I can see that there is, in fact, a light at the end of the tunnel... the life that lies beyond the pain is definitely worth living. That is just a snapshot of what this forum has given me.

Thank you Anthony and Nicolette for creating this space, and thank you to everyone else for being so kind, sensitive, understanding, insightful and supportive. :)

 

[Whitneys story]

@Ninja. :cry: Tears of Joy for your accomplishment! With the right tools and support you are showing others the possibilities! So glad you are here!

 

[The Albatross]

Progress can be celebrated here, and that has been instrumental to my recovery I think. So many "small victories" aren't really understood by the people in my 3 dimensional life... but are here.

The forum too, has helped me to not feel as "square peg" and I'm more able to deal with the frustration and anxiety about my perception of being in a world of "round holes". It has hammered home that there are alternative ways of thinking/perceiving than the one I default to habitually.

The forum has helped my ability to press forward with uncomfortable people/places/situations.

The forum has helped me to develop a habit of self check before and after I start my day and the diary has been a way for me to back track and reread from time to time to see "where my head was" and "what was going on" more reliably than my brain. Sort of like marking the path, when I've lost my way and need to find it again.

 

[ninja]

@Whitneys story: :cry: !!! Thank you. :hug:

 

[AngelKeeperJ]

This forum is a great outlet for those who have no one to talk to, and be listened to, accepted, and understood without judgment. For some, there is no other option for venting, or telling their story.

It feels good to lift others' up, and also being able to be lifted up when we are feeling down!

Thanks also, Anthony and Nicolette!