Financial counsellors are free and independent in Australia. Plus there are lots of useful websites like moneysmart.gov.au and National Debt Helpline. It’s great you have the self-reflection to understand that you witnessed some poor money management within the family and likely didn’t receive much financial literacy or guidance growing up. Your guilt indicates you care for your family, don’t like to take advantage of others and want to be independent so use this to motivate making changes. Also consider how helpful this pressure to compare and keep up at Christmas time is and whether you really need to be buying lots of presents rather than just participate in the festivities and bring a plate to share.
She didn’t accidentally overdose, she purposely did to try to get “quick” results. It’s not a benign medication to play around with.
When I ceased contraception to try to conceive, aged 30, I realised that my high running load was probably impacting my ability to ovulate and menstruate. My doctors didn't acknowledge it because I was still within the 'normal' BMI category and my hormones were borderline within range. Then I read 'No period, now what?' and stopped running, did some gentle walking, ate more, gained a little weight. It took four months of this for my period to return but it was so irregular. After a further eight months of irregular cycles, I was fortunate to become pregnant. It was an unexpectedly long year trying to conceive, given I thought I was 'healthy'. I'm now more moderate in my exercise and feel better for it. Thank you for bringing light to this.