Traumatic Experiences Community Daily Check-in Saturday, 10th of November, 2018
,
Happy Saturday to you! 
We have made it through an other week again and I am just so happy to get to hear from you once again! I mean, I am just so proud of you for being so strong and brave and being here with us right now. :)
How are you feeling today? :)
How was this week for you? Do you have anything you would like to share about it? :)
I have had a really busy and just randomg week so I have to admit I was not able to prepare as much as I would have liked to. >.<
BUT, then I have realized it is something that most likely all of us has every now and then, one of those crazy weeks and I was wondering, how do you recharge and just relax after a week or days like this? Is there something that helps you recharge? :)
I mean, for me it is really just staying at home as much I can, avoiding crowded places and probably just enjoy the company of my teddy bears and some music and/or cartoons. Oh...and ordering some food and just being lazy about cooking as well. :P
Anyways, I would be really glad to hear from you or really just have you here with us. Do not feel pressured to answer any of the above questions, if you would just like to say hi or just sit with us it would be just awesomt to have you here as well!
List of amazing people: @Sharkradio @MKjart @Lilyflower0817 @caterpillargirl @Survivetoalive @exuberantTriangle2562 @coraline23 @Ivorycat5573 @fearlessPear8268 @SemicolonSurvivor @weare1 @weareall1 @Annaka1 @moonchild95 @summernight69 @sheaintgotnoshoes @rationalWillow8882 @AMusicalSilence @catsith @energeticPenny8 @Rebekahwriter13 @behindhazeleyes @sensitiveShade5337 @singercrystalspirit @wittyTree8219 @Ocendade @Rpjrx @Brooke12 @Axeman53 @kkSp3nc3 @Softforesthsp77 @AriannaPink @sereneSoul23 @promisemehope @IPreferWinter @Zombii @Godborned @Jessica86 @resourcefulPond1641 @Lilibuth12 @Tir @Michelle0608 @The_Final_Chapter @Halogen @BubblegumPuppy68 @ScarletPear1945 @CaloenasNicobarica @Hoxenos @Christine1980 @TheresaWilliams @Compassionatelistener108 @LovelyChantel @unassumingSummer6022 @Reedrainshimmer @Kuma0187 @NonHoPaura @courageousNorth9872 @NacienteLuz @Helpfulsoul64 @TheHoneyDoll @Saif1for1Resilience @butters45 @purpleWest8143 @silverIceCream21 @Dandelionmoon @Bumblebee16 @consciousawakening @Shaiya365 @archerzvy @JJi @CopingwithTrauma @musicheals61 @disneynerd23 @Longday08 @sittinginahoneymoon @Quietbeach @loyalYard9488 @thatdramaticsoprano @understandingJackfruit9057 @amiableZebra3993 @Waterstreams057 @placidFriend3007 @AndreT @orchard9786 @sociableSailboat9634 @Calmlake1999 @emotionalMaple9419 @calmballoon3183 @disneynerd23 @MomRNFNP @Pdanziger @easymap6620 @MoreThanAConqueror18 @candyhaunt @namelessgirl99 @plumLake851 @streamoftears @quixoticRaven @Redhawk6547 @Sk1ttles @Shayc1 @Samdoc99 @Mikathewolfdog @Tacomytaco @stella17 @blinkk @PaperCrane1123 @Equalnotabove @felicia96 @CartoonDarling @Tayboi @Compassion21 @lilblackcat89 @ashes @selfdisciplinedTriangle5384 @amiableSummer3420 @FangsInsanity @Anj0806 @Spoonog @rissadawn @brokenflutterby @g00dwitch @No715 @SpruceRaven @tidyMoon3222 @helpfulHuman4992 @Djs3 @dynamicHemlock1736 @Hope3729 @hardworkingStrawberries3477 @courageousCake401 @humorousBeing8966 @NancySV1 @mysticPhoenix883 @oceanmom @gymnast9460 @Nonbinarywaffle7706 @Tbeth @felixfriend @Chels @8883ef @DaisyLion @forcefulSkies @spotthedot @Alcynically @ArianaMay @SB @J12g34 @FloweringBunny @loyalDrum2337 @nolongerafraid @CaringBrit @Ambrosia @practicalIdeal2007 @incompl @Raveninthelabrynth
If you wish to be Added or Removed from Taglist let me or @Kate know :)
How are you feeling today? :) I'm tired of being tired.
How was this week for you? Do you have anything you would like to share about it? :) it was productive at first, but then my exhaustion and sleep apnea caught up with me
Hey there @Rebekahwriter13 *offering safe hugs*
We are so glad to have you here with us!
I am glad to hear that you have had a good start to your week and you have been able to get so many things done. Good job! :)
Of course I know it can be exhausting especially if you have issues getting enough good sleep. I am wondering if there is maybe something that could help you get a better night of sleep. I mean, it would probably worth asking a doctor about as it seems to be affecting your life? No pressure of course, just an idea. :)
Anyways, if there is anything we may be able to help you with we are always here for you as well :)
Stay strong and awesome!
@redmark
Just prompt up with pillows for now
@Rebekahwriter13 - perhaps "propped" up with pillows? :D
@cyanPlatypus6370
It's not helping, but it's a start
@redmark love this check in red great job and all the cute gifs too
ive been good overdid my freedom from the cold i recovered from though because i can finally stay awake alot longer i did til 6am friday morning so only had 6 hours of sleep that day which had me sleepy and dozing early last night i was out by 11pm
Special tagging '@Avaray as they need adding to the taglist
here you go avaray
@CaringBrit Oww....sorry @Avaray :(
Is it possible that somewhere in the way we have somehow switched to the short taglist again? I mean, it felt a bit short. >.<
@redmark
Hey red xx
Hey there @Avaray offering safe hugs*
It is always so awesome to have you here with us!
I hope you are having a nice weekend so far. :)
I mean, either way, it is always nice to hear from you. ^-^
Stay awesome!
@redmark
Thank you red xx It's always good to see you too xx
Been quite stressful past weeks, not something i want to talk about, just sort of saying, didn't know how to make it through, but praying to Jesus/God is what got me through. I just had hardly much left, but knowing that He is there is what gets me through even when at times it literally feels impossible and feel i don't have much left. I had a relaxing day today though so trying to recover a bit.
Hugs xx
@Avaray Oww...I am really sorry to hear that you are going through so much lately but I am really happy to hear that you have found praying so helpful for you and I do really think you are doing an amazing job! :)
I do hope you will be able to have some time for yourself to just relax and recharge a bit this weekend as well. ^-^
@redmark
Thanks red... Hugs x
@CaringBrit
Thank you xx
@Avaray yw xx
Hey there @CaringBrit *offering safe hugs*
It is always so nice to see you around here!
Thank you, I am really glad you like this check-in. I had to improvise a bit but I know I can always rely on cute gifs :P - to a certain degree anyways ^-^
I am really glad to hear that you have been able to get off of that annoying cold and I am also glad to hear that you are able to sleep much better now and just have much more energy. yay! :)
I hope you will have an awesome weekend :)
Stay awesome!
@redmark
How are you feeling today? pretty good so far :)
How was this week for you? Do you have anything you would like to share about it? the week was okay...just busy
Hey there @Mellietronx *offering safe hugs*
We are so happy to have you here with us!
I am really glad to hear that you have are feeling pretty good so far and I hope it will keep on being this way and you will be able to just recharge and have a relaxing weekend after that busy week you have had before going into the next on. :)
Stay awesome!
Hey offering warm hugs to everyone!
Hey there @SouthernFlame *accepts the hug*
It is soo awesome to have you around here!
But you know:
soo back at you :P
Also, I just hope you are having a good weekend so far :)
Stay awesome!
@redmark
Awwie thank you so much. That was such a nice warm hug! I had a good day so far with some obstacles. I saw my therapist today so that was a positive start to my day!
@redmark
Hi Red. It is busy and I do not like this time of year.
@practicalIdeal2007 this time of year can be super overwhelming what is it about this time of year you dont like
Hey there @practicalIdeal2007 *offering safe hugs*
It is always really awesome to see you around here!
Aww, I am not the biggest fan of this part of the year as well - although I love the Christmas lights but that's all about it honestly - and I am sorry to hear that it is such a tough part of the year for you. I want you to know tho that you are always welcome here to share with us about the way you feel or just sit with us if you want and together we can get through this. :)
Stay strong and aweosme!
@redmark
About the only thing I like about this time of year is that I get out my stuffed moose to join my bear. Other than that I'd rather hibernate until January.
I always enjoy hearing from you. Your responses make me smile.
@practicalIdeal2007 now I want a stuffed moose :P
I am glad to hear that my responses help you boost your moose and it is always really nice to hear from you as well!
@redmark sometimes I just don
Hey there @intuitiveClementine4701 *offering safe hugs*
We are so glad to have you here with us!
Feelings can be really complicated for sure but it is totally normal to not being really able to tell how you feel. You know, I have struggled a lot with really understanding and labelling my feelings as well, and considering how much more you have been through, I think it is totally understandable and I just want you to know that I am just glad to have you here with us, no matter what! :)
Stay strong and awesome!
Thanks I guess I will get there eventually @redmark
After busy weeks I largely sleep lol. I must have slept over 12hrs last night xD. I often play games though or make things. Tidy my house? xD :P Stuff that doesn't require alot of thought :D
I am doing okay, I am doing 4 day weeks for the rest of this year which is super exciting :) gives me a chance to have a break and breath. I have been feeling less triggered and generally more stable recently, helps that the large family holiday I was dreading is now over and I've told my family quite clearly that I am not going on any kind of week long holiday with them again. So thats a weight of my chest. Anyway yer, generally doing okay :D :) not amazing, but stable and thats all I can really ask ahah.
@Lilibuth12 yayy for speaking up to them lilibuth about future holidays
Hey there @Lilibuth12 *offering safe hugs*
It is always really awesome to see you around here and hear from you!
I think we are similar in that sense. I have also had like a good 12 hours of sleep as well to kick this weekend off and I am really happy to hear that you have been able to get such a good night of sleep as well :)
I think it is a really nice way to recharge a bit, to take a break from things and try to get yourself lost in a game or just doing something like tidying your house ^-^
I am really glad to hear that you are doing okay. :)
I can imagine that having your family around for so long had to be really stressful but I am really proud of you for telling them that you do not want to do this, or anything like this, again. I mean, honestly, I am really bad at comfrontation so I just think you are so brave and really amazing! :)
Also, those for day weeks sound really awesome for the rest of this year and it sounds really nice that you will be able to get a breather like this for the rest of this year. ^-^
Stay awesome!
Hi there. This week has gone by in a flash for me and overall has been pretty good. I'm coming out of a major dissociative episode that lasted at least a year, so I'm dealing with that in-between state where I'm still depersonalised but I'm more aware of it, and also my long lost emotions are making a dramatic comeback at unpredictable moments.
This week I have talked to my fave listener here a couple of times, worked on grounding meditation that has helped me in the past, made an effort to think in the first person (sounds weird but I find I'm constantly thinking "you are..." and it's a little grounding reminder to think "I am..." instead), made an effort to allow my emotions to just be, and made probably the biggest effort of all to allow myself to be honest and vulnerable with my girlfriend.
She was incredible and I think it deepened our connection. She is also a survivor, etc. We talked about dissociation and she said she'd been told dissociation had to have a clear trigger. I half-yelled, "Life is a trigger! Existing in a body is a trigger! Having a form! Being perceived!" and she clicked her fingers like, "Yes. Truth." I don't know how I dared to be so candid, but it felt powerful, and I did it and I was present, and I am present.
I am still struggling with restrictive eating and have been losing weight rapidly for the past four months or so, and I am definitely struggling to be conscious of my actions in that respect. I'm about to spend 10 days traveling with my (dearly loved) mum and brother, so I'm hoping their presence and the food habits we'll fall into on our trip will give me a bit more structure in which to try and be mindful of my eating.
I am at least trying to notice and acknowledge when I am making poor decisions but it's not plain sailing. The past couple of weeks I definitely managed to trick myself and fly under the radar, to the point where I expected to have gained but had drastically lost, again. It's very tricky and confusing to be honest, but I'm working on it.
Hey there @kistrying *offering safe hugs*
We are so glad to have you here with us!
I am happy to hear that you have had a good week. Of course I can imagine it has to be really confusing coming out of such a long and intense period of dissacoating and face all those feelings again and just trying to be yourself but I am really glad to hear that it is actually going good so far. :)
I am really happy to hear that you have such an amazing listener here and you haev got to work with them on this as well and just working on grounding yourself and just, really, being yourself. Which, by the way, does not sounds stupid at all. I do not have any experience with it, but I know that it can really be hard to keep an idea of self with dissociation and I think it is really awesome of you that you are trying to so actively focus on it like that
Also, opening up to people can be such a scary and hard thing to do but you have really done an amazing job this week and I am really proud of you. :)
It can truly be a bonding expereince with someone to share with them these experiences and I am really happy to hear that it has worked like that for you with your girlfriend as well. I mean, triggers can be indeed hard to really identify and sometimes everything just can be too much and it is just so awesome that your girlfriend understands it and understands you so well. I mean, I am just really happy for you - for you and your girlfriend. ^-^
I am sorry to hear that you are having such a hard time with restrictive eating tho. I mean, for now I do hope as well that trip with your mother and brother with you will be helpful for you to give that really needed structure and mindfulness to eating for you and hopefully it will help you to start to work on that as well :)
I can imagine it has to be hard while you are being dissociative like that to really keep track of this. I am wondering if you could maybe ask your girlfriend to help you keep track of this or maybe just work out some system for it to keep a bit better track of it? Of course there is absolutely no pressure on you to do so only if you feel like it would be helpful for you right now. :)
Anyways, I am just really proud of you, you are making really amazing progression and you were using "I am" all the time in this check in as well. yay! ^-^
Stay strong and aweosme!
@redmark Thank you so much, this was my first time posting here and your genuine and caring response made me feel super welcome. It would be a good idea for me to try to check in with someone about my eating, and probably my girlfriend would be a good option but she also has an ED so either we could support each other or it might be triggering for her, but it would be worth talking about it I think. Thank you for the suggestion. <3 <3 <3
Hi Red, I'm here. This week has felt much more draining than usual. I need to figure out when/how to feed (and water) my canine best - because I am so tired! Tired of being wakened two or three times a night. And now it is cold so have to get fully dressed + winter clothes just to take canine outside for like 3 minutes :( I'll stop complaining now; I love my canine very very much and I will so extremely miss him when one day he dies 
Okay ... "Self, happier thoughts!"
"Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens. Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens ....." and hopefully a good long and restful sleep overnight tonight! ~ Platy
(Side note: Is that Balto!?? @redmark )
(Half-side note: Platy could use more hugs, if someone is reading this and has some.) Again, where does one start a petition for the "Free Hugs" room to be open more hours!???
@cyanPlatypus6370
Sending safe hugs your way. 🤗 Hope they help.
Hey there @cyanPlatypus6370 *offering safe hugs*
We are so glad to have you here with us. It is always so nice to hear from you around here!
Ohh....I am wondering if there are maybe some automatic feeder thingy for dogs which you can set up to give out some foo and water for your canine every set amount of times, like 3 hours or so. I mean, I think there may be. :)
The cold weather can be challenging for sure but I think it is really amazing that you are taking such a good care of your canine and I am sure he really values it as well and loves you a lot as well. ^-^
I like your positive quote and your little addition to it. I mean, I could defintiely get behind it and I would really love to have those long, restful sleeps as well and I hope you will be able to have them as well soon :)
Yep. It looks like Balto anyways. I mean, I found that GIF kind of randomly, but it made me want to rewatch Balto again. I mean, that was one of my favourite movies as a kid - and not so little kid around the age of 18 still :P
I mean, I don't know, the story of it is just really awesome. Do you like it as well? :)
*offering even more safe hugs* - you know hugs are one thing I am really good at and I am always glad to give out them if I can. :)
Also, I guess we can start a petition if you can find people backing it up as I do really like the idea of free hugs as well. ^-^
Stay strong and awesome!
@redmark - Thank you dear. You are sweet! It is in times like those (last night) that I am so grateful that 7cups is available 24/7 and that others' responses remind me I am not alone in this, especially when it feels so very alone.
"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.... " These are the starting words of the lyrics to the song "My Favorite Things" (The Sound Of Music) - which also happens to be one of my favorite movies of all time.
Yes, I will accept your hugs! Of course! I only sort of get why people in this subcomm add **offers safe hugs** like duh, hugs are safe! Or at least any, ANY hugs on 7cups ought to be safe 
One of the many many things I like/appreciate about hugs is that I can give a hug, and it gives to that person, but it does not in any way diminish my ability to give (or receive) more hugs. Do you know about the "Free Hugs!" room? It is a group chat room that exists, but only at certain times? @Laura? I don't know how or who decides when it should be open, but personally I think it could be open a whole lot more!
What do you appreciate about hugs? #FreeHugsRoom #PetitionformoreFreeHugs #EDWarriors (yes, I know I'm in Trauma Support ... but someone(s) in ED SubComm may need to read this too.) ~ Platy
@cyanPlatypus6370
Hey Platy! Nice to see you. I think people add the "safe" in there for those like me. In person hugs are never okay for me. Virutal hugs are sometimes okay and sometimes not. For some reason when someone adds the word safe I am more okay with it, and sometimes not. I have declined virtual hugs before because they weren't okay that day. I have been to the free hugs room once when Jill opened it. That was a nice experience. I agree it should be open more, especially on days that we need hugs (which is probably every day).