Anyone ever tried this?

[danstelter]

I am still getting used to the forum lifestyle and whatnot, and I would like your feedback on this topic. Does anybody here make friends on this forum and then meet in real life? I mean, even like phone buddies. A powerful way of recovering from anxiety is having someone to talk to the phone on about this condition; being able to vent to someone who understands is very helpful for recovery from anxiety. And, to push it a step further, has anyone met in real life? Another great way of conquering anxiety, especially social anxiety, would be for people to meet in real life. A future idea could be to have a meeting with socially anxious people in a certain city/region. What better way to recover from anxiety than by meeting with other people who struggle with the same difficulty? Everyone would be on the same page, realizing that everyone around them is socially anxious! I would just like everyone's feedback on this idea!

[Robbed]

A BIG problem with physically meeting people here (or, under most circumtances, phoning people) is the fact that people here seem to come from all over the place. Most people here seem to be from the UK, US, or Australia. How easily are you going to be able to meet with someone in another continent? Of course, it is probably easiest to get together with someone if you live in the UK. But here is the US, the chances that you are going to find someone within a few hundred miles is nil. I myself live in Sacramento, CA. And I have NEVER seen anyone from the entire Northern California area here. The closest would be the new member Ryobi - at least he's on the west coast. But he still lives almost 800 miles away up in Washington State. On the other hand, calling someone in the US on a cellphone or with a flat-rate long distance plan might be an option (and similar options may apply in other countries, as well).

[danstelter]

yes, that is the downfall of this strategy. But, what if even a handful of people could meet in a given area? Perhaps it may be better to try to organize online events? I do feel that the phone idea would be a great idea to help people process through their anxiety. My provider allows me unlimited incoming minutes, so that is pretty feasible for me. Just kind of wanted to put it out there. Forum discussion is useful, but better yet, phone or in-person discussion would be more beneficial, allow us to process our anxiety, and it would help ideas to flow faster.

[DiamondSea]

i'm from northern Cali, Robbed!

:D

[Robbed]

i'm from northern Cali, Robbed!

:D

Where at? I'm in Sacramento. But I find myself driving around Northern California all the time.

Anyway, I guess this issue of physical meetings could be handled in a number of ways. But perhaps the best way might be to start a sticky thread where each person who might be interested in doing this could simply say where they live. That way, other people who live in the same area could PM, and discuss a possible meeting.