Have You Changed?

[Trilby]

I've really changed since I first joined the Cellar.

I've gone from being a republican-leaning hawk to a democratic dove.

I've gone from believing in an unrealistic view of my family (esp. my mother) to a very much MORE realistic POV.

I've lowered my expectations of humanity but raised them where the cellar is concerned (loads of v. smrt people here)

I've rejected the concept of god in favor of a concept of spirituality that dwells within each of us and IS the Universe manifest in puny human consciousness and the Uni did this because it thought it would be fun/interesting.

I've gotten a degree in English though via my usage and grammar you'd never know it so I know that Bachelor prepared teachers are as stupid as I am - which is pretty stupid.

I've quit nursing forevah. Never again will you catch me working in that inhumane field.

I've survived cancer and I am actively fighting my alcoholism instead of feeling like it is simply my destiny to be a drunk.

I've gained new understanding of the world and the people in it and it is all due to coming here and sharing with you awesome people in this place.

tony - you're my hero! thank you thank you thank you for this wonderful place.

(and I know that kudos will never replace money in the tip jar - but I just wanted to say thanks)

[Trilby]

*caveat: In case of a zombie apocalypse I will use my nursing skills for good but I refuse to take 'doctors orders' on principle. And I will be very liberal with the morphine. You're welcome.

[orthodoc]

Heh ... in case of a zombie apocalypse I will never, NEVER 'give orders' to you, Bri!! I'll be begging for your help, lol! And I also will be liberal with the morphine, and the Xanax. :P

I also appreciate this place. Haven't been here long enough to say I've changed (officially been here six years but it's really only been a few months, then a six-year hiatus, and now a couple of months) but I've seen enough good, smart people here to know this is a good place. I learn things every time I surf this board, and I am alternately awed, inspired, and brought to incoherent laughter at the smarts and wit in this place.

I will also say - good ppl here. Having a new cancer diagnosis sucks. And you know what else sucks? Having people you thought were friends go silent, or run away. More people have reached out through the Cellar and said, hey - sorry, that sucks - than the folks I thought were my friends. And others in the Cellar have been unbelievably helpful and supportive and giving (yeah, I'm looking your way, Bri!). Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I've changed since six years ago when I first joined the board. I was very religious then, very conservative, very black and white about a lot of things. Not anymore. It's been a process over the six years I was away. Now I have no fixed, immovable political views - but I lean more left than right. I don't judge anymore, at least, I really try not to. Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. My new motto. And I have no fixed thoughts about spirituality anymore, as I mentioned in another thread. Sort of floating out there, just appreciating things, just observing. And trying not to inflict pain.

[BrianR]

I joined as a boy and now I'm a girl.

Thank you.

And what's more, I am NOT the first!

[Griff]

Originally Posted by BrianR

I joined as a boy and now I'm a girl.

Thank you.

And what's more, I am NOT the first!

You may have won this thread.

I'm off organized religion.
I'm off know it all political philosophies.
I'm on making the world better one kid/family at a time.
I'm on breathing, fencing, and cycling.
I'm on the wider perspective we get here.

[Undertoad]

Thank YOU Bri! YOU have helped ME... we all have helped each other.

I have become ten times more charitable and twice as kind.

I have learned, learned, and then learned some more. I have learned that I can learn from everybody and anybody. I have learned how often I am wrong.

I have found the social contract and rejected philosophies that didn't include it.

I have become a writer.

[footfootfoot]

How about a shout out to Bill W., Brianna?

I've changed, I think. I've gotten older.

[DanaC]

I have changed in the eight years I've been here. How much of that change is due to the Cellar and how much due to getting older I couldn't say for sure, but there are some changes I know are a result of coming here.

I feel I have gained a much better understanding of people with conservative, and even in some cases what I would consider right wing views. Likewise people with strongly religious views. Other than through my work as a local politician such people didn't feature very heavily in my day to day life. And very rarely in the context of friendly and relaxed conversation. There has rarely been a need in my life to have to set aside political or religious differences and still be able to muddle along together and even get to like one another.

Except for Dad, obviously :p but that's a different thing altogether.

Most of all the cellar has been a tremendous source of strength I think. I'd not so long since moved into my own place, after living at Mum's for two years post-split and started a new volunteer job after a period of depression and unemployment punctuated by spells working for my brother and ex-partner in their design business. I think I was bordering a little on ptsd when I joined here. The last couple of years of my relationship with J were so fraught. I really, really thought I was going a little mad. All that stuff we talked about in that other thread, about questioning the fundamentals of self and loss of any certainty about anything. All that, and itself on the back of several years of desparately trying to get the business running healthy, arguments, and money worries, arguments over the dog, arguments over anything. Then two years in mum's backbedroom. Feeling like I'd never get where I wanted to be. Not really knowing where I wanted to be, except in dreamlike terms of a house for me and Pilau.

I still get a kick out of living alone.

By the time I found the Cellar I was on my way back up, but I was still very fragile. And I still didn't really know what to do with myself. I think the cellar has been a stabilising factor in my life. I've made some excellent friends. And during some of my more self-destructive and self-pitying moments knowing the cellar is here and that if I am suddenly and painfully aware of my age, my aloneness and my aging dog (less so on the last one now ;P) I can type something into a little box and friends will see it, has been a real lifeline. And, I think it has played its part in my having the confidence to go the postgrad path.

Along with the volunteer job and the subsequent paid work, the Cellar helped me regain a good measure of my confidence and self-respect.

On a lighter note, it's a rarely dull, often entertaining and sometimes inspiring place to come for a visit.

[sexobon]

I changed my name to protect the guilty.

[Big Sarge]

I've gone through a horrible break up and 2 deployments while here. I've been fired and seen my career circle the toilet. I've had cancer and "brain lesions". Looking back on it, my life has been hell since I joined the cellar. But, know what? I've found some good friends on here and some beautiful women to lust after. Plus my daughters think a certain lady on here is "kewl".

I do have to admit I'm not nearly as right wing as I was. In fact in some ways, I'm almost libertarian

[jimhelm]

I've changed by not changing at all...
Small town predicts my fate.....

•spoken in to my phone

[Gravdigr]

I have not changed, and I have definitely not helped any of us.

I am perfectly comfortable with who I am. I suit me.

And I'm becoming more comfortable with who you are, too.

[Gravdigr]

[House]People don't change.[/House]

And it's never lupus.

[DanaC]

Except for that one time...

[DanaC]

I think you have changed Grav. Not majorly, but you seem more chilled these days.