A long rave

[eth]

Thanks @Anastasia .  Best wishes to you too.

[Appleblossom]

Hugs @eth 

It is great to hear your real life is more full than virtual relationships.  Though we know we are real too. lol  I am going off for a walk and talk this afternoon with someone who called himself a 'friend'.  My friend experiences this year have been a bit up & down, but the inportant thing is that I am putting myself out there and sharing more and being more assertive than in the past.  When things fall apart I am not so devastated as in the past.  Learning that being 'friends' has to have a sense of give and take and best not with great urgency but more relaxation .... its tricky ... cause what is meaningful ... often gets us all passionate.

@Zoe7 @Anastasia @Mazarita 

[eth]

Enjoy your walk and talk with your new potential friend @Appleblossom 

You'll never know if you never go, as they say.

Take care lovely.

[Zoe7]

@eth 💖💖💖

[Zoe7]

@Appleblossom 🌹💖

[outlander]

@eth @Mazarita @Exoplanet 

[Mazarita]

Hi @eth @Appleblossom @outlander @Zoe7 and anyone reading, well wishes all. 

Apple and Eth: interesting ongoing thoughts on 'real' versus 'virtual' life and relationships. After coming and going on the forum for long periods, being here only occasionally or very often over several years, it's still something I wonder about.

I guess it's obvious that relationships with people in the flesh, and our relationship with the real world in general, have to take priority in our lives.

At the same time, the intimacy that can happen on the forum is often beyond that with people we know in real life. Especially when isolation is a factor, as it has been for many of us here, the forum relationships can be incredibly rewarding, uplifting, encouraging and loving.

Perhaps that's why I feel uncomfortable, even guilty, when I am away from people I've come to know so intimately over time. Despite my confident belief that real life is the main thing in any of our lives, it can feel like I am neglecting people I care for a great deal if I am just not there for them for periods of time.

There's also that somewhere in the back of my mind is the knowledge that none of us are likely to ever meet in real life. Also that at some time on the future, the forum itself is likely to have an end point, hopefully a long way from now.

I guess we just muddle along with this real/virtual tension at times, valuing the time we have together and allowing, even encouraging growth in life offline.

Just off the top of my head as I am here for the first time in a while.

Love to all. Real or virtual it's from the heart. 

[outlander]

nice to see you here @Mazarita

[outlander]

@Mazarita @eth 

[eth]

Hi  dear @Mazarita  and @outlander   It seems an age since I've been here.  Possibly nigh on a month.  Hope life is going smoothly for you both.  A bit up and down here but this week was smoother than the previous 2.  

Love your musings about relationships on and offline @Mazarita   I guess for me at the moment I think of my forum friends as kind of pen pals - and I'm slow to write back!  Lots going on with doing a DBT course and my writing for the last several weeks.  Plus with the disability alliance mh group and a problematic person in it who I've ended my friendship with due to abuse.  It did leave a space in my offline life but it didn't take long for me to fill that space with connections with longer term and closer friends.  In these times of covid it's really important to me to keep in touch with my offline community.  Of course community here is highly valued to me too, I just don't seem to get the time.  I miss people and I have guilt about not being around, especially after my stint as a community guide, but coping with offline life has had to take priority for a while.  Even tho' most of my activities are things I've chosen, I really have to pace myself in between.  Have been in lockdown going on 6 weeks but luckily some of the groups I'm in are happening on zoom.  And the course is still happening in person as it's at a psych hospital and they're exempt from stay-at-home orders.  I guess I have to admit I've had much higher anxiety generally for much of this lockdown.  Particularly about the behaviour of my neighbours and classmates.  Also with something that happened with one of my support workers.  So many people bending if not outright breaching the current public health orders.  I am double vaxed, but have to keep reminding myself of the fact.  It didn't make me feel safer, I don't know why.

Anyway I'm rambling about myself here.

Hello also to dear @Shaz51  and @Emelia8 , @Owlunar @TAB @Fluttershy1 and @Daisydreamer and thankyou for the mentions and keeping me connected.  I get notifications but rarely drop in here at this time.  I miss you all and send my warmest wishes.  So many more people I could be tagging - if we're friends and you're reading this, you know who you are!

Take care and stay kind xx