Has Mumsnet changed your life? Women's glossy mag would like to know...

[HelenMumsnet]

Hello. We've been asked by Andreina, who writes for a well-known women's glossy, to put up the following media request.

Do feel free to wax lyrical about the wonders of Mumsnet...

"Hi, I am putting together an article for a women's glossy magazine about how more and more women are choosing to share their lives online ? whether it?s venting their frustrations, confessing something they can?t even tell their friends, or just showing a side to themselves which they feel they can?t show in their everyday lives.

"I'd really like to talk to Mumsnet users about how sharing their lives with online friends has made a difference to their lives, about why you post, what you post, and what you get out of it.

"If you'd like to talk to me - you won't have to identify yourself if you don't want to ? or if you have any questions at all about the feature, please don't hesitate to contact me on [email protected], or call 020 8144 0244.

"Look forward to hearing from you! Andreina Cordani"

I've just re-read my post - I sound like a right numpty. none of those things are things I didn't know before mn. but mn kind of consolidated them. made them more real.

I now read mumsnet instead of glossy magazines.

I'm a homebased worker. MN fills the gaping void of adult interaction during the day.

I laugh (a lot), cry (sometimes), and occasionally punch the air and shout 'you go girl'.

I love that there is always someone around who will know the answer - no matter how odd the question. And someone to tell you that yes, you are being unreasonable (which you knew anyway, but needed to vent)

And its fabulous that you get to know people entirely as their personality - theres no preconceptions about people

colditz

It's lovely to see you... you have been missed!

Getting to grips with a newborn can make you feel apart from everything - from work, your friends, your former life. Mumsnet made me feel a part of a community when all my other communities seemed to disappear.

Eight months on and I can honestly say it, and everyone on it, helps me everyday whether through sharing knowledge and advice or just making me laugh. Actually I can honestly say MNers have made me laugh more in the last eight months than anyone/thing else.

A MN mate has just sent me a little gift through the post which made me cry. I have stuff going on which I am unable to talk to RL friends about at the moment, and the support I have had from Mnetters has saved my sanity this weekend, stopped me feeling so low, and so alone.
And, in a perverse way, has also made me realise that although my problems are very real and very scary, there are scores of people on here who have gone through similar and survived! Or have gone through worse, and more than survived - picked themselves up, shaken themselves off and started all over again.
Very humbling and inspiring.

No, but lately, I'd be afraid to pay a fiver for a glossy mag, only to then read somthing which seemed familiar. Keeps happening to me. I read something in the paper which I swear I've read before. SOmetimes I think I even wrote it before....

But seriously, when I left my x and was new to single parenting and learning abuot narcissists and abusive behaviour, it was a great help. Probably fast forwarded my 'recovery' from 3 years to 2 years...

So yeah, Mumsnet gave me a year

Mumsnet gave me the impetus to realise that my abusive childhood would have to be dealt with if I wasn't going to continue the cycle with my own children. Because of the discussions I had here, the books I was referred to and the counselling I went to as a result of realising (from here) that I needed it, I really believe that I've broken a cycle of abuse and that my children will be the first in at least 3 generations (that I know of) to grow up in an emotionally healthy, happy family.

Yes, before mumsnet I used to have a life

Why couldn't Andreina post it herself ?

I hope Andreina has paid the media fee for this ad like the rest of the media request bods.

True Amazing, before mumsnet, my house was tidy and I made lists of things I was going to do the next day. never do anything any more! but in my OWN head, I'm SO sorted!

saved my sanity. Parenting has been a frigging nightmare, the 1st year more horrible than I could imagine, and I'm so grateful I've been able to come on here and ask every stupid question under the sun, plus I get to rant and then realise how silly I'm being. I'm very grateful for MN, a dose of reality that all mums need.

MN introduced me to bumsex.

I suffer from emetophobia (phobia of being sick) and have been able to vent online with other people with the same affliction. I am quite ashamed of this phobia - when I have tried to talk about it with real life friends many have taken the "No-one LIKES to be sick" or "Better out than in" stance which is unhelpful. No-one really understands how it affects my life but the emetaphobia thread on mumsnet was a godsend. I was able to virtually shake and quiver at the norovirus news while others virtually held my hand, and I was able to do the same for others too.

I moved to a new area and felt incredibly lonely as I did not know a soul. I found it so reassuring to talk to others in the same boat and realised that not everyone had the squillions of friends I imagined they did. I am now happy where I live and know lots of people but mumsnet was a godsend during those loneliest times.

Oh and on a lighter note I often love to eat nothing but a bowl full of sprouts, gravy and pepper. My partner said I was strange so I asked on Mumsnet. The general consensus was that no I was not odd and that this is a perfectly acceptable snack

absolutly.

I found MN when i left Dp. it was a severely violant relatsionship and had totally ruined my self confidence. I had to give up work and care for DS who has Asd along with DD who was only 10 weeks old when i left.

Mn was there when i put the children to bed. it was the adult company i craved but was too scared to go and find.

eventually after 2 years it gave me the confidence to join a dating website.
2 years after that i had finally built enough self esteem to actually try dating, properly.

Mn has allowed me somewhere to discuss the things that happened in that relationship. something i simp0ly couldn't do with Rl friends or relatives as i didn't want them to think less of me, to look at me as a victim. for the most part i kept the details from everyone. they knew we fought but i think most people assume it was a lot more balanced than it was.

Mn has helped me become part of the wide world again. It has helped me trust my own judgment and be confident in my ability to help others and give advice ( a major part of my profession)

but most of all its helped me find ME. i got lost somewhere between being a partner a SW and a mum. I disappeared. Odd as it sounds, being mamazon was almost like an alter ego. i didn't have to be polite and happy. i could say bollox im having a bad day. i didn't have to put a brave face on, i didnt even have to post. i could sit and lurk in my own depressive state until one of you made me laugh. till someone posted somethign about themselves that helped me realise i wasn't the obnly one. that there were people with far more reason to feel like crap than i did.

And Mn managed to oprove to me that the world has some amazing, fantastic people inside it. that for every arsehole there is that breaks into your house and shits on your DD's baby box there are 10 others who are kind and generous and absolutly fucking fabulous.

Abnd yes, MN taught me how to do bumsex. i am a total convert and so MN has changed Dp's life too.

Love it. I have learned so much and from so many differing perspectives.

When you buy a magazine you get the same urban single/yummy mummy aspirational tosh every month.

And the grammar is exceptional.

I find that it really helps me at moments when I feel that I am going mad and that my child is the only person in the world who behaves as she does. I have had some great advice on this very recently (check out thread 'my five year old behaves like a teenager) which - although only early days - meant that today I had a good day with my child even though it looked as though it was going to be as bad as yesterday (Which was really, really bad!) It's basically about empathy and support but is invaluable.

Haven't bought a glossy in years - I can't relate to anything in them. On MN, there is stuff I can relate to every minute.

Because of MN, I found out about alternative ways of weaning and did BLW with DS, which was fab. I wasn't really aware about 'ishoos' about breastfeeding, nor that some people fed for more than 6 months yet were not weirdos, and am still happily feeding DS at 17 months. I decided to train as an NCT BF counsellor partly because of advice I'd read here.

On a financial note, I'm probably worse off - have bought all sorts of things because they were touted/hyped/discussed on MN. Most recently, a Rebok rebounder for SAHM-friendly exercise! And I'm looking after myself a lot more after being scarred intimidated influenced by what I've read on Style and Beauty.

i moved 300 miles from family and friends, i was already a mn user but the brighton MNetters really were a breat of fresh air, those meet ups saved me - truly.

I am sure it was the support and advice on MN that helped me to breastfeed my 2nd and 3rd babies for 13 and 20 months respectively after being entirely rubbish at it with my first.

and BLW - just amazing

I found MN when I thought I was losing my first baby, it helped me breastfeed her and answered all my questions (my favourite thread title was "help is this my waters breaking to which the reply was yes my dear you are having a baby"), it was there the day I tested positive on my second pregnancy, through a horrendous housemove and near bankrupcy, when I tested for my third pregnancy, when I had a miscarriage, held my virtual hand when I was pregnant with my third daughter, through PND, marital and family problems.

On a lighter note I now know about tandem feeding, mooncups, bumsex, pirate sex, Cod spelling, BLWing, pram huns, special needs challenges, bats, trolls, flouncing, Auntie Flo, babydancing. Along the way I have met some fantastic people too.

Love it and wouldn't be without it x

Its helped me come to terms with a miscarriage and a subsequent very difficult pregnancy. I had no support in real life as my family lived far away at the time and had recently stopped working so lost my network of friends. Motherhood can be very isolating at times, partcularly in the current times when many of us live so far from family. Its a great way of sharing laughs, heart ache and all lifes many problems.

Mumsnet has also helped me when I moved abroad first to Brussels and now the big move to New Zealand. I could not have coped in Belgium without some of the things I learnt on Mumsnet.

Its a wonderful resource and there are so many helpful people on here. Its saved my bacon so many times!

I found mn just after i had my 2nd mc and fell in love. It has helped me through severe pnd and 7 subsequent mc's along with an ectopic pregnancy which almost killed me. mners administered hairstrokes when i was mc-ing or got a bfp or was ranting about our inability to have another child and rejoicedx me when we had a bfp or got positive news from the clinic. most recently i posted about my cousin's dc's who have been abused in the most horrendous ways and literally hadf nothing. mners have donated money, toys and clothes and restored my faith in humanity!

Ive made some great friends here and as we prepare to undergo IVF and move away for dh to join the RAF, i know I'll stay sane because at 2am theres always someone online!