Balancing online and Offline

Hi @outlander

For me balancing time online and offline depends on my priorities, commitments and need of the forum. And if it's productive or not for me now.

With need - when I had a breakdown quite a few years ago I had more need for the forum. Presently I don't as I am doing very well and am stable - and being online when better can become counterproductive then for me. I have seen countless over the years come and go here and other groups. They go when they are better and no longer have a need, so it depends on ones situation and need to how much time we spend online.

Priorities - my own self care and those who are with and around me in my life, whom truly appreciate me, will take priority with my time.

Commitments - again tending to my family, friends and volunteer work takes precedence with balancing my time. They will come first. Any time left over I do what is beneficial for me for self care and relaxation now. That's how I balance my online and offline time 😘

Great thread @outlander How are you going with finding balance?

I can see there was a topic tuesday a little while back on online life and it talked a bit about balance. Wanted to drop it in here in case it's useful to anyone.

Those sound like really great tips @outlander and it's nice to hear you're feeling more of a sense of balance now too 🌳

Interesting thread @outlander There have been times (years past) when I wasn’t working and spent most of my life online. Support groups were helpful, even lifesaving at times, but there was a point where they stopped being so. I guess it was when I reached a point of wellness and needed to move out, and didn’t immedistely realise.

Now I go months at a time without coming here. Sometimes that’s because I’m doing well and don’t want to think about MI. Other times it’s because I’m drowning in work and have no time to notice myself.

I think I just forgot your question and rambled irrelevantly.

Ha! sorry

@skuapositive @-Rayne-, @outlander, @Former-Member, @soul

very important @outlander, I find logging off at 9pm at night time works for me xx

I have a different habit to most in that I often pop online in the mornings before my family is up. This is because i am at my healthiest and most energetic in the morning. I find it difficult to determine what is real when i am tired or stressed and so the online world - as wonderful as it is - is sometimes dangerous for me when I sick. I am more likely to say things that might offend or simply completely overlook another person's feelings accidently. Then I will spiral with guilt, thus rendering the experience counter productive.

But I do register the need to communicate with others who understand and i have popped online occasionally to ask for help. It is tricky isn't it?

For me it's about reading the warning signs to monitor my own behaviour.

I have to say that I am not much of an online person. I rarely post photos of myself online. People must think that I am weird because I don’t advertise my life on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or twitter. Personally I don’t see what all the fuss is with constant pics of myself online. I have a boring life anyway. I will surf and post, yet I find that I get more out of face to face discussions.

i focus more on my offline life because it relates to staying well both for my physical health and mental health.