Lived Experience Forum

[Lilaca]

Dear Friend,

Looks like Pooh is a bit late for our band.

Been busy catching the bees,

all weekend.

Trying to slim down again,

but no no, I can't. 

@Sophia1 

Hello dear Tigger friend,

glad to have you back in the band.

Would definitely love a picnic every now and then.

Can we meet in the cave up the hill,

round the bend?

@Oaktree 

Hello dear Eeyore friend,

you need not worry about interruption

every now and then.

We will all have our turn,

I am sure no one gets left behind.

@Emelia8 .

Hello dear shy friend,

hiding behind a tree,

living deep in a bushland.

Could you be dear Piglet,

our missing shy friend?

@Anastasia 

Hello dear new friend,

you must be our old wise one,

thinking deep to put words down.

Could you have been dear Owl,

our missing wise friend?

@Ripples 

Hello dear new friend,

Living in the bush,

with roos as friends.

I hear you make arts

splashing some paints.

Would you be the artistic Roo

and join our band?

@Shaz51 

Hello dear new friend,

Aren't you Christopher Robin,

our new human friend?

Would love to listen to your story

whenever you have time

and if you can.

@NatureLover 

Hello dear new friend,

You popped in and left again.

Would love to invite you into our band,

could you be our down to earth,

Kanga friend?

Pooh loves all sorts friends.

Pooh is grateful and sincere

to all of them.

Let our friendship not be defined,

without boundaries shall we shine.

Yours Pooh Bear,

Always

[Oaktree]

@Lilaca 

Dear Friend,

You have not missed all the fun. I am still about if you wish to exchange letters.

All my love,

Eeyore

[Lilaca]

Dear Friend,

Pooh is feeling warm,

and would love to share

some heartful quotes.

Christopher Robin

"You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

Pooh

“Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”

Tigger

"She knew at once that, however big Tigger seemed to be, he wanted as much kindness as Roo."

Eeyore

"A little consideration, a little thought for others, makes all the difference."

Piglet

"Piglet noticed that even though he had a very small heart, it could hold a rather large amount of gratitude."

Owl

“If the string breaks, then we try another piece of string.”

And lastly...

"Don't walk behind me; I may not lead.
Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow.
Just walk beside me and be my friend."

Take care all.

Your Pooh Bear,

Always.

[Lilaca]

Dear Friend,

@Oaktree 

Always glad to have dear Eeyore around.

How have your day been

and did you go to town?

Pooh is just contemplating on friendship

and what it means,

and if I have been true

to me and the friends that surround.

I may have been missing out,

but I do remember to give a tag

to each and everyone.

I used to be busy and forgetting

each and everyone.

There's just too many things on my mind, 

I could never remember all at once.

Now that I learn to pat

each and everyone,

regardless of my day 

or how exhausting I become.

I hope to learn to be a better friend. 

Like Pooh says,

“You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest

waiting for others to come to you.

You have to go to them sometimes.”

Your Pooh Bear,

Always.

[Oaktree]

@Lilaca 

Dear Friend,

I very much enjoyed your poem. I had a fair day but stayed at home. Didn't drag myself out of bed till mid this afternoon and then had a pyjama day although I did fit in two showers. 

You don't have to worry about what kind of friend that you are being, just let it flow naturally. How are you friend? Did you have a good day? What did you do with yourself?

All my love,

Eeyore

[Lilaca]

Dear Friend,

@Oaktree 

Home is always good to be around.

Sleeping in is not my kinda thing,

but pyjama day,

now that sounds real fun. 

Slumber party with friends,

cooking and eating together,

talking about lovely old times.

Now that you mention it,

we are just freed from our lockdown.

Like a bird out of its cage,

we all need to fly wild.

Pooh would have said,

"As soon as I saw you,

I knew an adventure was going to happen."

I am that sort of person,

as Pooh would be that sort of bear.

Now you take care, dear Eeyore.

Have a good slumber night.

To the moon and the stars,

till the sun returns

and shines bright.

Your Pooh Bear,

Always.

[Lilaca]

Dear Friend,

@Oaktree 

I just heard that you lost 2 pets,

one after the other.

Well guess what?

We used to have 2 dogs,

and one died,

the other followed months after.

They were too close to each other

and became insperable.

Losing one is too unbearable

so they left together.

Humans too were the same.

When one died,

a close one soon

followed the other.

When dad died,

grandma followed months after.

It is always one after another.

Wierd how these connections actually work. 

Take care always,

Your Pooh Bear.

 

[Anastasia]

***Not light reading. Scroll through if light reading is what you are after***

Dear younger me,

I write to you to share my thoughts around your experiences and how they have shaped me today, some good some bad. Mostly I write to tell you to forgive yourself.

You think your situation is normal, you don't know otherwise, oh if I could go back and tell you it's not and give you a voice, maybe it would have allowed you to speak up, to stop things and to become so much more over the years. 

I'm sorry you're scared, hide and cower away too frightened to speak up for fear of getting into trouble, causing more violence and grief to the family. 

Its not your fault. You can't fix things. You are a child. You should feel safe, not have to grow up living in fear not knowing when the next time will be. 

I wish your parents could have realised that things weren't right for both their children. Even today I want to ask them, to understand why, but I don't, I don't want to hurt them. I'm sorry things happened. I know if they knew the half of it they'd be heartbroken. 

So much of it is lost in my memory bank, I wish all of it was, but it explains why I am the way I am. I am aware now of why I have done things that I have over the years. The self sabotage, the running away, the trust issues, my need for co dependency and why I have made the bad relationship choices that I have made. It doesn't change the past but it now makes sense. 

As a result of what you are going through and yet to go through I have had low self esteem, self doubt, self hatred, terrible judge of character and poor communication skills just to name a few. 

Today, I'm better than I was, I've grown a lot...I still have a long way to go. My youngest son is unwell, I have had counselling and as a result it has made me aware of my own issues and the reasons why.  It's enabled me to begin to "heal", to grow, to have a voice finally. I have made a promise to myself that I will make you proud. I will leave a legacy. I don't know what that is yet but I'm working on it. 

I do forgive my parents, they were the best they knew how to be, just as I am to my boys. I just wish they had the capacity to be better. To seek help. To protect us. 

So dear frightened younger self, you'll survive, you'll have two gorgeous sons, you'll protect them like your life depends on it. It will. 

If I can ask for one thing for you is a protector, someone you can speak to, help for the family, the catalyst for change.

Please find your voice.

I love you x

@Bow 💕

[NatureLover]

Dear Friends @Lilaca  @Sophia1  @Oaktree 

---

@Lilaca wrote:

@NatureLover 

Hello dear new friend,

You popped in and left again.

Would love to invite you into our band,

could you be our down to earth,

Kanga friend?

---

I am so tempted to let my inner child out to play! I am finding this thread so positive to read! I only appeared to have 'left' because I'm generally only around in the mornings. Thank you so much for your kind invitation to be Kanga! And then I'm thinking, what if I'm not good enough to be Kanga, and someone comes along who wants to join in and who would be a much better Kanga than me? And then what about me usually only coming online in the mornings? And then there's my psychologist who has limited my time on the forums due to my extended burnout last year and earlier this year...I've already gone over the limit she set me for this week on the forums.

But then again, what a lovely, positive and whimsical opportunity to be Kanga!

So I would like to take up your kind offer to be Kanga in your little band of friends. 

Let's see...Kanga is such a busy and anxious mum, she has so many things to get through each day, minding the mischievous Roo (and sometimes Tigger too) and doing all the washing and cooking, that she can only socialise in the mornings before Roo awakes. But she awaits her friends' letters each day to see how they are doing, and looks forward to reading them in her 'me time' each morning. 

Bye for now, new friends 🙂

From Kanga. 

[NatureLover]

Dear @Anastasia , your letter...I don't have words, but I wanted to say, how emotionally healthy I thought your letter was. 💙