Friday Coffee and Chat -- 16th January 2026

Ha ha 😂 yes they are @avant-garde

Thank you 😊 @NightFury

Coming to have a look @creative_writer

@Blackcloud , @K8e

Hiya @Chasingsunsets 🥰 thank you for your reassuring and kind words, it's great to hear from you again

I think you are right in saying that my friends will provide a good distraction, the fact we are surprising my girlfriend by coming to this musical she thinks she is just going to with one of our friends, I reckon she's going to love it! And they are also my first aid hero who saved me the day I fell, waiting with me, checking my feet, distracting me and helping me into my fiances car to get me to the hospital. So it will be good paying it forward 💖

My day has otherwise been mostly good, I worked from 7.30am until 2pm and then had coffee with my mum who recently retired, we did a bit of op shopping and then I went out for dinner with my fiance, we had Mexican.

I also did some washing to offload some stress of it for the weekend 😅

How have you been ?

@Chasingsunsets I actually have no idea what type of frogs we got in our stream in the past.. ones that croak at night? lol. I never saw the frogs. Sneaky little fellows!

It is a little stream that runs from a small top pond and into a small middle pond and then into a larger bottom pond, and then is pumped back up to the top. I like the sound of the running water in the stream (unless I need to pee, then it is terrible! lol, yep I'm one of those people).

@Rosepetal96 wishing you the best and safest of times at the musical. 😊. Would love to hear about it afterwards.
I can understand that it would bring up some anxiety from the previous experience and injury. I am really proud of how you realise this anxiety is from the past experience and that logically there is no reason to think this time will be the same -- after all, it is a rare event statistically!

If only you could claim the theatre ticket as a medical expense for "exposure therapy"??? 😉

I am glad you are going with a friend, and I hope they will be extra supportive for you -- are they away of how you are feeling re: trepidation? (I doubt knowing this would 'spoil' their time with you; if they're anything like me or my friends, they would be grateful for the opportunity to help support you)

@DogMan79 😊 Study sounds interesting - thank you for sharing. I hope you feel OK throughout the process of the interviews; usually they will have options for support if it triggers emotional reactions. 😊 Although you likely already have an idea of how you manage if strong emotions come up, from your past experiences & coping.

When I lived in Sydney (a long time ago) I participated in a few research studies with the Black Dog Institute. 😊. I always found it really interesting chatting to the researchers about their project and hearing the results after. After one of the studies, from my neurological results of the study, one was even able to recommend another colleague's upcoming clinical trial to me as something that would probably be effective for my clinical history & neurology. (Unfortunately my pdoc was too difficult to get in contact with, and after a few phone-tags they gave up. I wonder how different things might have been if I had that treatment back then, 15 years ago, before things became more "cemented" chronically).

Even if you don't find the research interesting like I do, I really thank you for participating in the research 😊. Without people willing to do so, the continual learning and refining of things would not progress very well. It really is important and meaningful.

@BipolarRich

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@BipolarRich wrote:

My left leg is feeling dead after a back surgery in July of last year, it better have not failed, or I am likely to go postal on the Surgeon

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That sounds like a long recovery time, although I know back surgery can be very challenging and careful; our spines are so delicate and central to our whole nervous system. I can understand (from things I have learnt from my chiropractor) how your leg sensation could be related to your back surgery/issues.

What does "dead" feel like with regard to your leg? No sensation at all? Can you walk on it still?

Please don't feel you have to answer if that is too confronting or personal! I am just a naturally curious person, and interested to learn about people life experiences. But please never ever feel you have to answer something you don't want to!

I think frustration is a very, very understandable emotional reaction to a delayed recovery and unexpected effect. I am sorry you are experiencing this. Does it cause you any anxiety?

@AlwaysMyself thank you so much 😊 I will definitely be sharing how the experience goes and it will be a good reflection point for my journal. I recognise that perhaps this has been the cause of my occasional bouts of crying this week too. I will be very cautious and aware of stairs and my footing this time as well.

The great news is my friends are aware of my underlying anxiety and are quite supportive of me and have been really wonderful throughout my journey through this injury. Also my relapse of anxiety after my low ferratin induced pre syncope and sinus tachycardia episodes landing me in hospital. So it's good to know they will be there for that bit of reassurance (which I need a fair bit sometimes)

Lovely flowers @Shaz51 😍. Have I mentioned purple is my favourite colour? (I probably have.. but if not... now i have!)

I hear you on the "what would life have been like, if not for...?" @Blackcloud . I have wondered this myself at time too!

I know there would have been a lot less pain and distress... would I still have gotten depression? I don't know - possibly. But it would probably not have been as severe or chronic.

But on the flip side.. there is a lot of valuable things that I also would not have learnt. I'm sure I would still have been a caring and empathetic person, but would I have developed the skills to respond and support people as much as I have? I genuinely think my own experiences have really increased how much I "pick up on" in other people i meet, and in how I naturally respond.

And without first being vulnerable to my friends with disclosing my experiences, I don't know if some of them would have felt comfortable/confident to be vulnerable also in sharing with me when they're having a really hard time - esp when they may have felt "no one else will understand" or worried that if they tell someone the person will "freak out".

I wonder if there are any positives that you think have come about from/despite your experiences? The "silver linings" as they were -- even though they don't take away or "make up for" the pain, but they have grown through the pain.

Always here to chat more if it would help. I am really glad you are seeking what you need in a psych, including an ND-affirming one 😊. I'd love to hear how it goes, and be with you also during the waiting period, the "get to know a new person" period, and the future beyond that too of course!

Good night everyone

See you tomorrow for Saturday Soiree here 😁😍

@tyme