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AppleblossomSenior Contributor
For a while I have tried to find a thread I had started when I joined the forum that could be a "home" thread for me.
Being busy about the forum has been a coping style, where I can acknowledge all my different life experiences that had been silenced. Possibly do some good and prevent things from getting worse. Like the little boy with the finger in the dyke.
Feeling fragile
Needing Nurture
In response to: Fragile
AppleblossomSenior Contributor
@AlwaysMyself It is good to get you know you better, and really beautiful to have some like-minded and like-hearted souls choosing to relate to me, in my deep vulnerability.
Thank you for asking. My mother and family is from the Netherlands, and my father was Irish Australian. He had nobody and died young, so most input came from my Dutch side, and there was also the periods "in care" and how that impacted my siblings.
So, I didn't totally identify as Australian, as I didnt hear Aussie stories as family. It is really amazing. I am finally putting together my paternal ancestry and now have some detailed information about the particulars. Now I am pretty sure we are from both convict and eureka "royalty"...lol .. wry smile. So its finally weird, to reintegrate all the other Aussie flavours and myths ... as relevant to me ... at such a late time in my life!
One of my musician friends recently went to Prague and Vienna and was telling me about it. Yes, it could be lovely to go, but I may not be up to overseas travel. I am accepting of that. The internet is good for somethings like researching places and peoples...
Thanks for being around the forum, with both vulnerability and offering support to other, and to me. It matters.
In response to: Re: Fragile
AlwaysMyselfSenior Contributor
You are welcome @Appleblossom , I am liking getting to know you better also. Deep conversation is what I like in socialisation, but I have very few (non-forum) friends that i can have those with.
The Netherlands has a very special place in my heart 😍. I fell in love with it the first time I visited, even though I have only been to Amsterdam/Holland region and then a day trip to 2 places outside that region. Since first visiting I always felt "this is a country I could live in". And not just for the cheese! 🤭. I loved the weather too. But the people and the balance between environmentally friendly/conscious but still convenient living was great. And the proximity to the rest of europe for travel... 😍🥰 oh, and Dark Chocomel milk 🤭 was a favourite discovery too. Need i also mention that 24 years ago I discovered Lotus Speculaaspasta and brough multiple jars home 🤭😂 and then learnt to home-make my own spread when it ran out. Ahh and now finally i've been able to buy it here for the past number of years. 😊
Indeed the internet is so good for brining "overseas to our doorstep". Ive heard there are some good VR travel experiences avaipable too, but I've never gotten into VR.
I would love to bring Vienna to your desktop 🥰. If you would enjoy exploring it online with someone, I would definitely get more enjoyment and understanding out of the musical (and cultural related to the music!) things from your knowledge sharing.
Just an idea, no pressure.
It is interesting where people's ancestry comes from. And it can be quite different based on era and, as you say, convict or free-settler or even royalty! I don't think I have any royal blood in my history 😅, darn no secret inheritence for me lol.
When i think about it, I don't really know anything distinctive about my ansestry culture beyond just my grandparents. My father grew up on a farm, where as my mother grew up in suburbia - so quite different day to day life as children. But both went to university and been city-livers ever since, other than visiting countryside. So i guess i grew up with some understanding of the Aussie-farming culture, whilst not identifying with it myself. I feel in the city life that i dont really have a distinctive culture, other than my love for the variety of cultural influences that i get to experience. But when i travel overseas I realise that I do culturally have the "helpful friendly Aussie who treats everyone equally" (not a caste/class based view, personally). I think people in "low class jobs" overseas notice it a lot - that Aussies are more likely to stop and chat with them casually and not talk down to them. (Of course this is not every Aussie!! And its likely that is also because I dont stay in fancy classy places where 'proud' or snobby people would 😅). My friend who is a tour guide in an african country said Aussies were most likely to offer to share their food and beer with the guide 🥰 and treat them like a friend on the week tour also (not as a servant).
In response to: Re: Fragile
AppleblossomSenior Contributor
@AlwaysMyself
"I realise that I do culturally have the "helpful friendly Aussie who treats everyone equally" (not a caste/class based view, personally)." I also like the "land of a fair go" general aspect of Australian culture, but then there are also people who have endured a lot. Sometimes it is the knowledge of hard times that helps keep that openness to other people. It impacted me that way.
Ha ha, I haven't bought the paste. I had peanutbutter from a food co-op for basic protein in my uni days! My local supermarket has The Dutch Company speculaas biscuits, which I buy as often as Arnotts, which is not a lot, but some... lol... I am upset they no longer stock spiced gouda! Oh dear I have managed to get it for decades, but hard to find these days. I occasionally make an almond ring or banketstaaf.
I did spend a few years visiting and working on a dairy farm in the western district as a teen. I loved that it gave me a sense of value for food and country living in contrast from my mainly inner city experience. The Dutch do do better cheeses... hah!
Share about Vienna and music all you like, see what emerges...?!?
In response to: Re: Fragile
AppleblossomSenior Contributor
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-22/nigerian-school-children-and-staff-released/106170280
Glad these people have been released.
It certainly is a troubled world, with so many different interest groups vying for support and attention. I had online friendships with a Nigerian and a Ugandan who worked with street kids near Lake Kampunda. I still get communications from some Missionaries in Niger, connected to my church. I have spoken about all the different tensions and groups in these various places.
Thank God and Gough for my good education.
In response to: Re: Fragile
AlwaysMyselfSenior Contributor
Oh, wow. That is so traumatic for those children, staff and their families and friends (and communities). It is good to hear the remaining people have been released; I do wonder about the 35 difference in numbers - I noticed that too. Makes me wonder if some people unfortunately did not survive. 😢
I imagine your friends in Nigeria and Uganda would have both interesting and horrifying stories from their experiences @Appleblossom . I hope they are safe and well, and able to continue doing such important and caring work for their communities at-risk children.
In response to: Re: Fragile
DimitySenior Contributor
Hello @Appleblossom here's a book review that may be of interest.
In response to: Re: Fragile
AppleblossomSenior Contributor
@AlwaysMyself
@Dimity Thanks will look into it a bit.. I definitely have thought about both his published concepts ... way back ... Inflammed mind and Divided mind ... etymology etc... Bleuler ... bla bla.
read Divided self in 1970s. etc etc etc ...
neuroscience etc etc...
Not as impressed by new break through science concepts anymore ... seems the perennial path and old wisdom is as relevant. Weary of people gunning for an excuse to publish a book. Sorry feeling cynical. Cos all the break throughs are only geared to certain presentations. Some people get damaged by this current system. Seeing it as mainly due to lack of adequate resources, trauma and bullying of some kind. Even though my relatively rich ex had so called schizophrenia. He was bullied by his big brother fancy pants American academic. Yep I know that part of society thinks, and acts within their family sibships, as well now, as the poor kiddies in the homes.
@AuntGlow @holdinghope5
In response to: Re: Fragile
AppleblossomSenior Contributor
Yeah familiar with Rosenhan, Kraeppelin, Sontag, RD Laing ... all of it ...falsity of brain body split ... @Dimity Lucky it means I probably dont have to waste any money on the book, even if I would agree with most of his propositions. I know exactly where he is coming from, but I do hope SANE, take it more seriously than blithely accepting simplistic models, like the Recovery model or the biomedical model
@AuntGlow @AlwaysMyself @holdinghope5
In response to: Re: Fragile
AppleblossomSenior Contributor
Not sure what you think of Niall MacLaren, Australian Psychiatrist.
@Dimity @AlwaysMyself @Adge @StuF @SOCRATES1
In response to: Fragile
AuntGlowModerator
After such a challenging and vulnerable year with many twists and turns, both good and bad, I wish you a wonderful Christmas with your son and bountiful start to the New Year. I am looking forward to supporting you more when I am back @Appleblossom. 🎶🍎
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Help us push aside the stigma and discrimination surrounding complex mental health and change the way people talk about, and care for, mental illness.
SANE acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures; and to Elders past and present.
SANE values diversity. We are committed to providing a safe, culturally appropriate, and inclusive service for all people, regardless of their ethnicity, faith, disability, sexuality, or gender identity.
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