Just Need Someone to Talk To

[Glistening Rainlight]

Isolation's really taking it's toll. On everyone, I know - people just aren't meant to socially isolate like this and definitely not for extended periods of time. My own Covid-like isolation's been going on for about six straight years due to extenuating circumstances. For a long time I had online friends and PTSD to keep me distracted from my isolation-related declining mental health, but both of those are gone now. I've been without even any online friends since around December 2019, and the effects it's having on me just keep becoming more and more clear and cute cat videos are only doing so much to keep it at bay.

I just need someone to talk to. Maybe we could talk about holidays, or ponies, or anything really. We could talk about movies even, I don't watch movies but I can watch recommendations and chat about them if you want. Is there anything you guys are excited about? Any crafts you're working on? I know I've been thinking about fixing up one of my adoptable designs and offering that, heck maybe even trying to revive an old Rave Ponies thing I once did on DA, but I've been a little on the fence since I told myself I was going on an "online art hiatus".

[Minty_Magic]

I completely understand where you’re coming from, I don’t have many friends to talk to to begin with, but since the pandemic I’ve felt really isolated. I’m happy to chat anytime if you want! I’m on here pretty often, so I should see any PMs in a somewhat timely manner. The only caveat is I work weird hours, so I’m active all night but not much during the day. I’m ALWAYS happy to chat holidays and ponies. I’m getting excited that we are coming up on the holiday season now, I just got my own place this year, so I have an excuse to buy cute seasonal stuff now! I’m really happy to chat about anything though. I love discovering new things, so I’m open to topics I may not be familiar with.

[Griffin]

I'm also always happy to chat! I'm not necessarily available for real time chatting due to time zone differences, but I'm open to PMs or even traditional snail mail letters, if anyone would like a pen pal! (Although I must confess I can be really slow to respond to letters sometimes.) I would love to find new friends, online or offline.

The isolation has hit me hard, too. At first, I was almost happy with the situation as I tend to enjoy time spent on my own, and cancelling everything was pretty much the best thing that could've happened to me when I was under a lot of stress. But now it's getting a bit too much, I do need the human contact, too. In my case the isolation is not total either - I have people in my life but whenever my spirits are low I tend to distance myself from everyone, which is generally the total opposite of what I'd actually need at that moment... I just had a couple of hours' Zoom chat with two friends/colleagues and I feel so much better! They've done the Zoom thing every day but it's been what, nearly two weeks now since I last participated? Recently, simply posting more here on the Arena has helped me a bit. I've always had difficulties to open up about my feelings but it always improves my mood when I do so. It's much easier for me to do that in writing, though...

[Ponybookworm]

I know this will sound ironic, but you are  not alone in feeling isolated & cut off. Before this Covid thing started I was able to go to a coffee morning now & then for a little break, but that coffee morning has obviously been stopped & I have no clue when it will resume. That was pretty much my only offline human contact with anybody.

Rain, I see you on the Discord. Don't be scared to say hi there. I don't have a mic or webcam & use Discord on the desktop, but we can type away to each other xxx
 

EDIT PS: please linkie to the DA wi the rave Ponies...

[Glistening Rainlight]

DMed the first two! ^u^

@Ponybookworm
Aw. The coffee things are sad, I've not been able to go out and get coffee whenever I've wanted anyway but I love going when I can. Hopefully all of this stuff can pass and things like that can start up again soon enough. It's been really wild, I've heard lots of people saying that 2020 is basically a bust of a year. I heard people saying that much when this year began and my thought was "Surely not..." Unfortunately so, the entire year. It's really bizarre. But we can keep hoping, right?

Oh! The Pony Central discord? Somehow the thought that someone else would be in both places fairly actively never crossed my mind. While I do try to be active there I can be a bit more shy about DMing people when it's an IM like Discord. I'm sure that seems weird and arbitrary but maybe after we've had a little bit more time to talk? c: I'm happy to DM on here though, I still get a little nervous about it but it's not as bad as when it's IM.

Ohhhhh. Well, I have them locked up in my storage on DA with everything else. I can unstore a couple of them to show you, but fair warning that these things are very old and I really didn't have any idea what I was doing.
-removing my link-

[Ponybookworm]

They look sweet. I like the night one in particular, she's stunning xxx

[Glistening Rainlight]

Thank you! ^^ A lot of those ended up being requests to work from a generalized theme, like I got two separate requests for sakura-themed ponies. I think only one or two ended up being pre-existing characters. Heck one of the themed ones was from a new mother, celebrating her baby boy. ^^ I'll never forget that one haha.
 

Now that I think about it, I've been on the fence about what I've been calling "design commissions" and one of my big arguments against it was that I might not enjoy trying to design things for/with people I don't know, but I don't think I really even knew a one of the people who asked for those "rave ponies" and they were a blast to make. Hm.