Welcome to Gaia! ::

La Belle, hush now. I remember the good, but I also remember the bad and unfortunatly for me the bad outwieghs the good. I know life's not fair, trust me, I do, but I can't do anything about that so why not jsut X out that option for a bit, maybe until I'm older and have figured out what to do.

Oh! My new teddy friend! THat's what you meant, ah, I see!

friends can be the most helpful when youve known them for quite some time, when you can ask the question "what do you think of me ?" and they can describe you because your so unique. no matter what life is worth living if it's done the way you want it, never let anyone slap a title on you since you are your own brand of person let your friends help you when ever they can because i had a friend who was just like you kind of.

it involved her mother and various boyfriends that had anger issues and drinking problems, it took me five years to get her courage up enough to even talk to a boy or even look at one without cowering. she is currently talking to boys on her own terms usually on the phone it was a big step just to get her to do that. so what im saying is dont let your past dictate who you are going to be and who you will be, courage is fear wrapped in bravery.

I know exactly how you feel when I was little I would stay at a neighbors and the two older kids there would sexually abuse me. The "adults" were hardly ever around so I couldn't really tell anyone. By the time I was 12 my mother finally stopped making me go over there. But after that I would flincj when ever any male got to near me, even family members. I went to counseling when my mom found out about it... I still don't know how she did though. But it didn't help me either. What's really helped me is a gay guy friend of mine and gaia. Since he's gay there was never any worry or pressure about sexual stuff, and he slowly helped me to open up to other people. Talking in the threads on gaia with other people about issues has been more helpful and reassuring then any counseling or thearpy could be.
I hope you get better and happier, and I wish you all the luck and love in the world. heart

One of many things gaia can't provide is human contact [aka touch].

in some cases though the lack of human touch is preferable... and sometimes its easier to talk about hard issues when you can't see other peoples reactions

I think I'll side with Menolly on this one. You cna tell what a person means by thier context, usually. I myself can't stand fro men to be near me, can't even really make eye contact with them. I cna only make eyecontact with my, like, three or four actual guy friends, but only because one of them's gay, one of them is hopeless as an American {he's a foreign exchange student and has trouble speakign english, so he gets really shy. It was fun when us girls helped him understand halloween!}, and the other one is my friend Kevin, who's troubled- not because of abuse- but because at least three of his friends commited suicide in one month out of greif.
My History class has like, three times as many guys as girls, so when I was forced to stand in front of the class and give a speech, and Mr. Willertz asked me to make eyecontact with that croud, I stared first at one of the girls in the front row who I know is nice, then at my friends Alexis and Lauren. It's easier not to make eye contact.