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Rosie Thomas OAM

@rosiethomasoam

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🚀 Cofounder @projectrockit
💓 Learning ADHD brain & unmasking life
🎤 Speaker, Social changemaker
🏳️‍🌈 Queer. Proud. 2 Mums
Account just made public

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😮‍💨 After yesterday’s post, I’m feeling braver. CW: mental health. Ok deep breath. 😮‍💨

I’m not ready to tell my whole story yet about the secret cost of being a high achiever.

But I am ready to call bullshit on burnout.

Because I think “burnout” has become the only version of struggling that ambitious people feel safe enough to admit.

Sometimes what looks like resilience, drive, energy and success from the outside is actually camouflage for barely coping.

Not ashamed to say, I filmed this from a psychiatric hospital last week. Why should mental health be treated differently from physical health?

It’s emotional. It’s imperfect. And I mean every word.

If this resonates, please add your voice - because I think it’s time we dragged some of these conversations out of the DMs and into public.
Sound on. Please share. ❤️ taken in Wurundjeri Country by @rosiethomasoam

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2 months ago

CW: depression

24 hours before delivering this speech, I couldn’t get off the couch and hadn’t written a word.

Despite the GREAT honour of delivering the 2026 Monash Graduation Commencement speech, I was crippled by panic and depression and felt like a fraud.

How could I possibly deliver life and career advice to hundreds of new graduates in this state?

I want to remind you that sometimes confidence, charisma and success is camouflage for coping.

Also that I am back doing well again 💓. But I want to share my learning.

❶ Getting off the couch was the first step. Thank you partner and best friend.

❷ But what really brought me back to life that day was putting myself back into the world.

Because when you’ve been hiding away for a while, your nasty inner critic (mine’s called Dolores Umbridge - such a mole) has absolutely NO competition.

She tells me I’m worthless. I’ve lost it. I’m not good at anything anymore. I have nothing useful to contribute.

It’s bullshit! But when you’re isolated, there’s very little new evidence coming in to prove it wrong.

❸ BUT…….then you step back into the world.
And the WORLD INTERRUPTS THAT BITCHY DEPRESSO LOOP.

You connect with others (meaning of life?!). You contribute. People listen. Maybe a spark even flies.

And suddenly the data starts coming back.

Oh. There I am.

❹ That’s what this day gave me: new evidence. Human connection! Pride! Love!

Most of the time we can’t just “think our way” back into believing in ourselves.
Sometimes we need to reconnect with the world - and let it remind US who WE are.

❺ And if getting off the couch is all you can manage today, that counts too.

That might just be the first step back towards yourself.✨

And if you’re reading this from somewhere dark: I love you.

Please don’t do it alone. Help is out there. In Australia, Lifeline is available 24/7 on 13 11 14
#mentalhealth #leadership #womenleaders #graduationspeech taken in Monash University by @rosiethomasoam

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a month ago

CW: mental health. ♥️ Ahhhhh. The WHIPLASH of the last few months. So much to be grateful for and so much to bid adieu (with compassion like an overstaying house guest!) Here’s to what’s coming and here’s to keepin it real on socials. Thank you to my team. You know who you are. ♥️ ps i work in Youth Mental Health so i refuse to fall victim to stigma and pretend this bout of unwellness was an Infection or something. It was absolutely psychological stress. More transparency around something we all experience in seasons of our lives please. Visibility is everything. by @rosiethomasoam

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2 months ago

CW: mental illness + major surgery.

I’ve got through two major open abdominal surgeries... in 4 months. For me, serious mental illness was harder.

If you love a sicko tale about gross surgeries - here you go 🙈

❤️‍🩹 And if you’re in the thick of mental ill health now:

YOU ARE NOT WEAK. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. EVEN WHEN THINGS FEEL COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE, THINGS WILL CHANGE AND YOU *WILL* GET THROUGH THIS ❤️

A reminder, I’m going to keep talking honestly about the invisible stuff. Feel free to keep scrolling, delete or share with your community to bring the reality of mental ill health into the light ✨

🙏 Help is out there for every person:
- Lifeline: 13 11 14 or text 0477 13 11 14
- 13YARN: 13 92 76
- QLife: 1800 184 527
- Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636
- If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 000
.
#mentalhealth #bowel #livedexperience #invisibleillnessawareness #chronicillness taken in Naarm by @rosiethomasoam

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2 months ago

👋 Hi, I’m Rosie! I’ve recently taken my IG off private and into public because I’ve got a bone to pick 💪🏼

I want this page to be an act of rebellion against all the shit we’ve been taught to carry and then hide.

The whole “care for others at all costs, teeth and tits, chin up, put up with it, look like you’ve got your shit together” thing.

Fk that.

I want to talk about the invisible load, mental health, neurodiversity, chronic illness, leadership, relationships, identity, sexuality, being a woman with a fuck-ton of responsibilities, maladaptive and better coping mechanisms and ALL the messy stuff underneath it.

If you know me, you know I like to make shit happen. And I reckon the meaning of life is human connection.

So darlinks, please follow@ along. Tell me your messy middle in the comments. Tag your mates. Pass it on.

And tell me what your messy middle looks like. I want to know you. Let’s see what happens. by @rosiethomasoam

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2 months ago

⚠️ WARNING: Revolting PDA ahead 🤮 YUK.

Shout out to my #1 Stink, @stella024 , for holding down the fort AGAIN while I’m in hospital.

Not only is she working her tooshy off full-time while solo parenting our resilient Roo 🧒🏼…

…she also has to give the cat his medicine EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING. AND. NIGHT.

Faaaarkin worst.

And somehow she still manages to hold us all together and keep me steady with her unconditional love (and hilarity… okay babe, you are bloody funny).

Life certainly ain’t easy right now, but here’s to another 18 years of discovering who we each are - with, and alongside, each other.

But no more hospital visits, thanks. 💘

Your seagull 🐦

#LGBTIQ #LGBTIQA #QueerLove #TwoMums by @rosiethomasoam

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3 months ago

1. L I G H T at the end of the tunnel
2. Versions of me and my loves
3. European Autumn styles
3. Face hurts from smiling & delighting taken in A Better Place by @rosiethomasoam

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20 days ago

💓 Early 40th b-day celebrations for The Stink™️ aka LOML. The rest is only chatter. Love is all that matters. Oh. And long lunches in Italy. They matter a fuck load. 💓 we’re a couple of months early but happy Italian bday, baby. You are so loved. 💓 taken in Martina Franca by @rosiethomasoam

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a month ago

🚨 THREE WOMEN KILLED BY MEN IN THE LAST 24 HOURS.

And still, “I’m not the problem” is where too many men stop.

As @konkarapanagiotidis said: pretending you’re not part of the problem is not the same as being part of the solution. Silence isn’t neutral. What you ignore, excuse, laugh along with or walk past is what you help normalise.

At @projectrockit, we ask the question every day in schools when you see bullying hate and prejudice happen, are you gonna be part of the problem or part of the solution? I’m calling on Australia, in particular men, to answer that question in the tiny AND the big moments.

Kids are watching your every move. They are watching what the adults around them tolerate.

How do you want to be remembered?

#ViolenceAgainstWomen #GenderBasedViolence #EndViolenceAgainstWomen by @rosiethomasoam

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a month ago

Brought the Q U E E R to Klagenfurt. Bisexual, decades before it was cool or safe-ish. Still incredibly unsafe for so many and so it’s a literal privilege to feel I can show up as my self and be loud and proud xxx 🌈

#wlw #queer #twomoms by @rosiethomasoam

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a month ago

Growing up in the 90s, I was a “tomboy.” Maybe you were too??

Which mostly meant I liked shit I was apparently meant to leave to the boys.

They gave me a LOT of shit for it.

Looking back, I now reckon they bullied me because they were just jealous.

I was better at the sport than they were.

Abracadabra. 🪄

#WomenInSport #GirlsInSport #WomenOver40 taken in Klagenfurt by @rosiethomasoam

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a month ago

🤌🏼 YEAH but are you in your forties and ACTUALLY did the overseas bestie once in a lifetime group vaycay? Where did you go? What were the best bits? Squeal!

Travelling in your 40s with your best mates - you figure it’ll probably never happen again, but here we bloody are, with our kids. In freakin Austria. And today was a bloody great day. ❤️ taken in Klagenfurt by @rosiethomasoam

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a month ago