friends?

Well, I'm tired of people calling me and asking how I am then interrupting about themselves.
I'm tired of no one listening to me. No one caring enough to listen. And no one caring enough about another human being to give some sort of reply when posts are made. maybe i just need exercise.

Post deleted by jawjaw

That was an excellent reply - and a great posting as well. I agree with you JJ, just because the members sometimes don't reply, it truly doesn't mean they don't care. I am guilty of not responding to all the posts I read. There are a number of reasons for my lack of a response - including those mentioned by JJ. I don't have much free time and I sometimes feel like I don't have much to say - though I always learn and appreciate all the input. In addition, as a fairly new member, I sometimes feel like I don't yet know you all enough to add my contribution (that's a personal "shy" thing.

I would love to have more time to read and respond to all the wonderful postings. It really is a wonderful community of friends.

I think we can all be encouraged to know that our thoughts are being read and thought about by a large number of members even if we don't hear back from them.

I don't think I would be too far off if I said each one of us has probably added a little bit of goodness to each other's lives by our postings or by our replys.

Thank you for being part of this community!

Donna

Female, I can assure you, at one time or another we have ALL felt that way here. We have all started topics that no one responded to and we've felt that twinge of thinking that no one cared. But it is true, we are not all capable of contributing to each topic and sometimes the women who may respond, don't happen to see the post, and then it gets buried. It is not intentional.
Please give the forum a chance, if you are indeed looking for women who care!
((HUGS))

This IS a wonderful caring community, full of loving, supportive women - who are human, with time constraints, energy limitations and any number of reasons for not being able to respond to posts. I try to respond to as many as I can, but sometimes am just too weak, tired, empty, brain-fogged or in my own pain to know what how best to respond to someone else's pain without my own taking over. Sometimes I can respond adequately, but sometimes my own agony overwhelms me and all I can do is to read the posts and take each sister to my heart in prayer. You don't know that I do that, because it's silent, but I do. When you've been here long enough, you learn to trust that we are indeed a profoundly caring community, who do what we can when we are able to - it's never going to be enough to meet everyone's needs, but all we can do is be who we are and hope that we make a positive difference somewhere in the lives of others who come here.

Hey sister bird- we posted at the exact same moment!!

Shouldn't we be making a wish or something?

Female you might try giving us your name and something about yourself. Trust in the women you want responses from and they will likewise trust in you....Welcome to you, whoever you may be.

No, I think one of us has to buy the other a Coke!!

Put that on the list of the things we'll do with each other when we finally meet!

female, this is/can be a life-changing, soul-comforting, spirit-lifting place if you want it to be. It's not magic, it's not instantaneous, it's not always exactly what we need when we need it...give it/us time, trust and truth.

You have no idea what kinds of things the women in this community are going through at any given time - some of us are grieving lost loved ones, some of us are companioning loved ones through terrible ordeals that may not have happy endings, some of us are fighting our own never-ending battles with depression, cancer and/or any number of health issues, some of us (not me) work full-time and have to juggle households and families and spouses, some of us linger in the background reading and praying - and we've learned never to underestimate the value and power of the collective praying that goes on here!

We're a mixed bag of woundedness, wisdom, wit, history, experience, ability and giftedness. We're not perfect, but we're awesome!

Post deleted by jawjaw

Well, now you can't say no one responded to your post!

I for one take the time to browse all forums but sometimes, especially where issues being shared are of a sensitive nature, one takes time to digest and ponder on what one can contribute positively. If my contribution cuts across the grain, I reserve not to participate i.e. "saving my breath to cool my porridge". As it has already been pointed out, no one gets ignored here. This is proof of that. Please allow us to get our bearing on occasions when your post is bypassed for some reason or another. One thing I am sure of is, on those occasions when a post was not responded to, it was not meant to cause you any hurt.

Hi, Jackie and Eagle: Should'nt you be saying SNAP!

This was mainly about people calling on the phone with the pretense of wanting to ask about me, then just talking about themselves. But thank you to all the replies. Janine? no, my name is Marie Elizabeth.

I think sometimes people call and ask about you when they really need to get something off of their own chest. It's just normal protocal to ask how the other is doing first. It would be rude to call up and start talking about themselves immediately. Without knowing the entire circumstances, I guess I shouldn't say anything but I know I am guilty of calling my friends when I need to talk about something for myself. My friends know that I am here to listen to them as well when they have something they need to talk about too. I kind of think of it as therapy. Once I've talked over my problem with my friends, for some reason, my problem doesn't seem as big as it did before. I hope that I do the same for them.

Marie Elizabeth, I know exactly what you're talking about in regard to peaople calling and then just talking about themselves. I remember one call in particular that really hit home on that point. I had just met this woman in a store and we struck up a wonderful conversation, seemed to immediately enjoy each other's company and exchanged phone numbers. She called me a few days later, and without barely saying hello, launched into a 2-hour conversation all about herself, her family, her children, her woes, her everything. I'm not exaggerating when I say I didn't even get one complete sentence said in the entire 2-hours! And then when I told her I had to go because I wanted to kiss my husband good-night before he went to bed, she still wouldn't let me go! I was furious. After several attempts to get her to stop, I finally yelled into the phone (and I'm usually a rather meek, mild person) I HAVE TO GO - AND PLEASE DON'T CALL ME AGAIN.

She never did. I don't have many friends here, for a variety of reasons, and a new friend would have been a welcome relief, but really, who needs people like that?! I'd rather be alone than having to endure listening to too many more monologues like that!

I don't know what the solution is. Being here might help, though. It sure helped me through a very broken chapter of my life. Nobody here deliberately ignores posts, and if your post does get buried (that definitely happens here), just bring it back up and say "hey, I need somebody to listen"...we will, we do and we care.

Hi Marie Elizabeth, got to just say ditto to Eagle Heart's post. She can hit the soft spot. Where are you from? If you like, tell us something about yourself.

Now that is a beautiful name Marie Elizabeth, we are here to listen and you can write as much as you want to, kind of like talking. We will respond but I have seen some posts covered over almost as soon as they were posted by another person eager to get her message out. Then one day maybe weeks later someone browsing around the topics, will see your post and bring it back up adding a reply, then other women see it and join in. When the group is as large as this one is, it sometimes takes awhile to be heard, be patient and hang in there. So far as inconsiderant people on the phone go, just hang up if they won't shut up and that rarely will get you a call back, which you don't want anyhow. Sometimes drastic measures are necessary....

Have you ever had a "friend" who breathed in the middle of her sentences so you wouldn't have a chance to say anything? One evening I fell asleep for a few minutes and when I woke up, she was still blabbing and didn't even notice I wasn't responding! I guess I should've snored.