Not Coping

@Birdofparadise8 Yeah super lovely! A friend of mine got married on Saturday (hence the visit) so I got to celebrate her and her new hubby, had some nice lil times on the dance floor and basked in all the wholesomeness. Now I get to just chill out and go walking along the beach. Gotta say dozing off to the sound of ocean waves instead of sirens and heavy machinery (they're doing a huge construction project near my house back in Naarm) is a huge blessing. Have you lived in a city all your life or is Sydney a bit of a noisy change for you?

That's good to hear @Jynx

I'm in Melbourne accualy

I lived in Hobart, but in a suburb to it was alright.

Where I am now, I'm like 10 min away from the city, so it's not noisy here.

@creative_writer I totally believe you can do it. Like I said to Laura4 earlier, you've survived 100% of the bad days before this, and you can do so again. Love that you're taking the time to do the things you know to be helpful. Are you into journalling? Could you try to get all the crappy or dark thoughts out onto paper? You could then even do a little ritual where you burn the paper afterwards and imagine the crappy thoughts going up in smoke. Plus, fire pretty.

Or maybe paint or illustrate your thoughts in some way. I saw this today and thought it was super insightful:

@Birdofparadise8 oh yes you're also in Naarm! I forgot for a second there 😅

Oh it's good you're not getting hounded by sirens and traffic all the time. I think it very much depends on location - even inner suburbs are alright if you're not near a main road or the train tracks. I think where I am seems to attract a lot of hooners - folks driving up the nearby main road at ungodly hours, revving their engines. I know you get used to it hey, but sometimes it's nice to just have sweet ocean sounds instead haha.

How are you liking Naarm now that you've been there a little while? Found any cute lil cafes or quirky shops in your local area?

Oh no, that must be annoying @Jynx

I am on the train line but my building isn't close enough to it thank god.

@creative_writer I like the idea of safe destructive coping - i.e. if you need to break something, maybe go find some sticks you can snap, or some rocks you can chuck at the concrete. Scream into a pillow, punch your pillow, fill a plastic bottle up with water and hurl it at the ground. If you have a metal bin (or something else to safely contain a fire), you can write out your feelings and burn them. Find some old clothes or sheets you don't care about and rip the fabric up. Tomorrow, head to an op shop and purchase some cheap, crappy crockery and then smash it on the concrete.

Does anyone get the feeling they are hugging someone when they hug a cushion?

I've just started crying for no reason and I grabbed my cushion and it kind of mimicked it @Jynx @creative_writer @outlander

Aww that's actually super cute @Birdofparadise8! I think that's a super legit thing to do - I mean there's a reason I have a whole collection of stuffed animals hanging out near my bed haha.