u/Orchids1234

Hi all, I just wanted to express my gratitude to this community and the effort that goes into all of your responses and your openness about your experiences. I know every DCP is different and has different experiences but I have learnt so much from engaging with this sub and continue to do so.

After an incredibly tough infertility journey my partner and I were blessed to have an amazing friend offer to be a sperm donor when prior my partner and I had been using anonymous sperm due to feeling like we had no other choice. Changing during this process meant dealing with more stress and bs bureaucratic and highly problematic fertility companies, leading to me making some serious complaints especially regarding their lack of consideration for DCP, but has just reaffirmed our choices. I am hoping deeply from the bottom of my heart that this decision will benefit our child or children in the long run.

Thank you for challenging me, giving me information and being open about your own experiences. Not having a genetic connection to my child has been something that has been so distressing for me but knowing that our children will have access to their history and biology and create the relationship they want with our friend and his family if they so wish is so exciting and I will be eternally grateful for the lessons I learn and continue to learn in this sub.

Thank you ❤️

I want to move towards post traumatic growth after a really really hard 2 years but I feel like I'm in a rut and need to be more intentional about improving my self esteem. I am a counsellor and literally work in this space but can't seem to take my own advice.

Please no fertility advice, I have tried it all. I'm looking for general advice to get out of this rut I'm in because of many things outside of my control.

I have been trying for nearly two years to have a baby and have had no luck. I'm queer and most of the people I know that now have babies are queer, the majority started trying after my partner and I and everyone now has a baby. I'm essentially medically infertile which has been probably some of the biggest grief I've ever been through (though I have lived a fairly privileged life aside from a challenging childhood home). A friend died during the time trying for a baby and the grief I felt for her loss was so much less complex than this infertility grief. Its been such a hard time between cancelled appointments and navigating the medical system. My partner and I now have a clear plan to conceive in a couple of months but I need something to get me out of this rut I'm in now and help me to feel excited and stronger about the future.

It's so isolating, I haven't 'lost' friends but I may as well have for the moment, everyone just talks about babies which is a massive stress trigger for me.

I'm trying to 'do my own thing' and 'go my own way' but I am somehow stuck. My self esteem just seems to be going massively downhill and I look in the mirror and honestly just see a shell of myself. I feel lonely and misunderstood and don't see a way out.

Good things: I'm getting married in 6 weeks, I go to therapy and have done EMDR for trauma and grief, I started relearning an instrument though dropped off on this, I Journal regularly, I go to the gym regularly-weights, I go to acupuncture, I attend an art group, I was still able to get a promotion at work in one of the hardest times of my life, I have a decent social life though I am jaded and jealous towards (most) friends with babies, I enrolled in a course I wanted to do for ages and am generally 'gentle' with myself. I know how to meditate I just have a mental block for doing it.

Bad things Spending too much time on my phone (irony), feeling low energy and unmotivated, I have body image issues (past ED) but would like to be able to lose some weight, I struggle with alone time, not as much cardio fitness as I would like, sex drive is low, I have such a strong narrative about being hard done by and feeling lonely which does my bloody head in, I feel so disconnected and at war with my body after it failing me for the past 2 years.

I don't just want to be 'okay' I want to fking THRIVE. I want to be able to get up in the morning and get out of bed feeling motivated about the day ahead, work on my own shit rather than comparing myself to everyone else, be able to 'be with' myself and my thoughts, focus on what kind of mum I want to be, be fit and healthy and just generally make the most of the time I have before we hopefully have kids.

I also have an ADHD diagnosis and let's be real it's probably AuDHD so if there are any neurospicy folk gimme all your ideas.

If you got this far thanks 😊❤️

Hi all, I am the manager of a free counselling service with children and young people. We have wanted to use Minecraft as part of our counselling but I have never used it before and I don't know how to use Minecraft at all. We operate 100% online counselling delivery on Zoom. I have looked online but am overwhelmed by all the advertising and marketing.

If you are under 25 what do you think of this idea?

We are a not-for-profit so need:

- Free or very low cost hosting with good security.

- Private hosting (two player between counsellor and young person).

- Easily accessible to those that haven't used before.

-Easy for the child/young person to sign up and log in.

-Clean slate for each session (?)

Any thoughts, tips, ideas or experience would be awesome regardless of your age or experience with Minecraft.

Thanks :)

I came to this sub for a temp check on why Australia has gone to the billionaire sharks worried that everyone is just eating up the lies.

I was so pleasantly surprised to see people calling out this political nonsense currently going on for what it is and the discussion of a desire to come together, resist division, actually see the policy behind the hype and put the blame where is really should be.

I know there may be dark days ahead and I know this community may not be a full cross section of society but I do know that everyone here calling out the lies they are trying to feed us has family, community and friends they will be going out to and having conversations with about the kind of Australia they want to live in. For me that is one of welcoming, egalitarianism and kindness.

Both nation and foreign political interference from the billionaire class should be resisted in all the small ways it possibly can be.