Stop Waiting for a Sign: How to Build Meaning (and Guard Your Life) Without Magic
Coincidences feel like winks from the universe. “Find your passion” promises a perfect fit. Both can keep us stuck. Meaning isn’t discovered; it’s developed. Passion isn’t a soulmate; it’s a relationship you build through reps, friction, and identity. This essay trades omens for agency: shrink the unit of decision, pick a place, invite one person, and practice consistency. There’s a harm-reduction edge too—daylight plans and shared containers protect queer lives from drift and chemsex pressures. Signs can delight you; they just don’t get to steer.
The Companionship Effect: Why Doing Life With People Beats Hustle, Hacks, and Heroics
Most self-help advice is a solo sport: get up earlier, grind harder, optimise smarter. But a huge time-use study shows something simpler—and kinder: almost everything feels better when you don’t do it alone. From co-working to co-errands to low-key “parallel play,” shared rhythms lift mood, make habits stick, and protect mental health (especially for queer folks navigating loneliness or chemsex pressures). This piece swaps lone-wolf optimization for social fitness—tiny, repeatable touch points that make ordinary weeks easier, lighter, and more human.
Forty, Without the Filter: Notes on Getting Older, Getting Real, and Getting a Life
Turning forty feels less like joining the “This Is 40” Instagram brigade and more like finally meeting myself. I don’t have the dream house, a partner on my arm, or thirst traps to prove I still “look good for my age.” What I do have is sobriety, friendships that last longer than a weekend, and a body and mind I can actually trust. This isn’t about being “blessed.” It’s about being real, reflective, and quietly proud of progress over perfection.
Am I OK? A True Answer for R U OK? Day
For years my answer to “R U OK?” was no. I numbed, I spiralled, and I couldn’t picture life getting better. One honest sentence — “I’m not OK” — led to 30 days in hospital and a slow rebuild built on therapy, movement, and showing up. Today my answer is yes. If yours isn’t, borrow my belief and start with one conversation. I’ll listen.
The Power of the Queer Locker Room
In this piece, we reflect on how mainstream sports culture can isolate LGBTQIA+ people — and how queer-friendly teams offer more than just fitness: they offer safety, spark, and belonging. Backed by research and personal experience, this article explores how sport can become a powerful antidote to loneliness, and a practical tool for community connection.
The Shift That Saved Me — And Why One Session Might Be Enough to Start Yours
After nearly a decade of drifting through mental health challenges, Get Out founder, Brodie shares the mindset shift that changed everything. Blending personal reflection with evidence from emerging research on single-session therapy, this piece explores how real change starts with small steps — not perfect plans. For anyone who’s ever felt stuck, flat, or quietly overwhelmed, this is your reminder that healing doesn’t always begin with a breakdown. Sometimes, it starts with a decision.
Kindness Isn’t Just Polite — It’s How We Find Each Other
In a world that often prizes hustle over heart, kindness can feel like an afterthought. But new research shows it might be the glue that holds real community together. In this piece, we explore what kindness looks like in queer spaces, the quiet ache of disconnection, and why Get Out is continuing to build tools — like the new volunteer matching platform — that make genuine connection easier. This is not about doing more. It’s about doing what matters.
Pride Is a Protest, a Celebration and a Lifeline
Pride Month didn’t begin with rainbow merch — it began with resistance. In 2025, it’s still both a protest and a lifeline. This article explores the ongoing fight for LGBTQIA+ rights, the impact of loneliness on our community, and how live music and Pride events offer more than celebration — they offer connection.
In Trust We Begin: How Trust Transforms Loneliness Into Connection
Loneliness is often framed as a lack of company—but what if it’s actually a lack of trust? In this deeply personal and evidence-backed piece, we explore how broken trust shapes queer disconnection, why epistemic trust matters more than we realise, and how rebuilding trust (in ourselves and others) might be the most powerful antidote to isolation. With insights from So Lonely, Arthur C. Brooks, Esther Perel, and lived experience, this article offers practical strategies for cultivating meaningful, resilient connection.
The Hard Work of Happiness
We’re often sold the idea that happiness is a passive state—something we stumble into with enough time, money, or success. But research tells a different story. True happiness requires effort, intention, and sometimes a little discomfort. In this piece, we explore the neuroscience, psychology, and personal habits that shape lasting happiness—and why it might be the hardest (and most worthwhile) work of all.
IDAHOBIT 2025: We’ve Come So Far — But Let’s Not Pretend It’s Enough
This IDAHOBIT, Brodie reflects on the growing global backlash against LGBTQIA+ rights, the urgency of building genuine inclusion in healthcare, and the loneliness crisis facing queer communities. Drawing on his lived experience, hospital leadership roles, and work with Get Out and MindOUT, Brodie makes a powerful case for why visibility must be backed by action — and why connection is the most radical form of care we can offer.
Becoming the Role Models We Needed: Why Community Building Must Go Deeper
Today’s world is flooded with hollow role models and quick-fix connection promises — but real belonging, real resilience, and real role models aren’t found overnight. They’re built, deliberately and patiently, by communities willing to do the deeper work. At Get Out, we're committed to being part of that future.
It’s Not Just You: Why Loneliness Feels So Complicated Right Now
Loneliness in 2025 feels more personal, more misunderstood, and—for queer folks—more complex than ever. This heartfelt piece explores how social connection, chronic illness, internalised stigma, and our digital lives are shaping modern loneliness, and why the answer isn’t just more socialising—it’s better, deeper, more intentional community.
How to Spot Manipulation (and Stay Grounded) This Election Season
Ever been accused of being the problem after you called one out? That might be DARVO — a psychological manipulation tactic where abusers deny, attack, and reverse the roles of victim and offender. As the election heats up, so does the emotional warfare. Here's how to spot it, stop it, and protect your peace — especially if you're queer.
Let Go, Lean In: How Change, Curiosity, and Meaningful Rest Can Save Us
We cling to what we know — even when it’s making us miserable. But what if letting go was the beginning of real peace? This piece explores how resisting change, ignoring rest, and avoiding discomfort keeps us stuck — and how leaning into curiosity, presence, and meaningful connection could be the way forward.
Nostalgia for Something You've Never Had: Why We're Longing for Connection Offline
There’s a growing ache in our hyperconnected world—a nostalgia for moments that were never ours. Eye contact. Shared laughter. A spark not filtered through a screen. But what we’re really missing isn’t the past. It’s real connection. Offline. Unfiltered. Human.
Beyond the Mirror: Why We Need to Break Free from the Clone Wars
On a recent trip to Sydney, I couldn’t help but notice something — every guy looked like they’d been rolled off the same production line. Stubble, muscles, cropped shirts, and white sneakers. When did standing out become so terrifying? And what are we losing when we trade individuality for the illusion of fitting in?
Free to Be: Are We More Inclusive, or More Divided?
As the LGBTQIA+ community gathers to celebrate Mardi Gras under the theme Free to Be, we’re asking the tough questions — are we truly becoming more inclusive, or is our community quietly fracturing? In a changing political landscape, our unity matters now more than ever.
Building Better Friendships in 2025: Connection Takes Effort
Friendship in adulthood isn’t effortless — it takes time, intention, and a little creativity. As our lives evolve, so do our friendships, but making meaningful connections in 2025 is still possible. Here’s how to nurture relationships that truly matter.
Reclaiming Connection: Why Loneliness Doesn’t Have to Be Inevitable
Loneliness isn’t just about being alone—it’s about how we connect (or don’t). Instead of drowning in the narrative that disconnection is inevitable, Reclaiming Connection is about taking back control, stepping away from our screens, and choosing real, meaningful interactions. Whether it’s making friends as an adult, building connections at work, or breaking free from the doomscrolling trap, this piece is a reminder that community doesn’t just happen—you create it.