Wednesday 30 March 2016

Thoughts On A Month Of Employment

I've been gainfully employed for a month now, and it feels like a good time to reflect on my new job and on life while chronically working. 




I decided to start looking for a job after 2 months of resting (read: sitting on the sofa and binge-watching Scandal), following my move back from London. I wasn't sure if I was 'ready' to re-enter the world of work, but I knew that the only way to find out was to try. I wasn't really sure what I was capable of doing anymore, I only really knew what I can't do. I can't stand for long periods of time, I can't walk without being in pain and I can't do that for long. I can't lift or carry heavy objects and I can't do anything that involves too much repetitive motion. Which rules out...quite a lot of jobs.

So I wasn't sure how many jobs out there I could do or how long it would take me to find something I could do, that was also part-time, and in my limited travel range. In the end, I was very lucky in that it only took me two interviews to get a job, but enough time from starting to look in January, to starting on the 29th Feb, that I got my exercise regime in place and it became routine enough that I could keep it up once I started.

I mentioned this before in my February review, but now I've actually started to work I can definitely say I hit the jackpot job-wise. The people I work with are lovely and I feel like I've settled in really quickly. I enjoy the work a lot: it's methodical, process-driven, it is, for the most part, either right or wrong. The hours suit me and allow me time to rest and do my exercise regime, which is great. My insomnia has gotten better, with the routine.

Sounds awesome yeah? Not quite. I've still not nailed down getting to sleep before 1am which means I'm now not getting very much sleep. So I've been pretty tired. From the lack of sleep, the travelling, the working, Really tired. More tired, I think, somehow, than I even was in London where I was working full time and had a rather more active social life. Right now, I need to nap every afternoon and the last couple of weeks have been particularly hard: I've had to miss one of my 3 exercise sessions each week due to tiredness and cancel a lot of social plans. It sucks, but it serves as a good reminder. I have a chronic illness and not listening to my body and trying to live my Fullest Life is likely how I got in this state in the first place.

I got a bit cocky. I thought I was doing sooooo well with my job and my exercise and my blossoming social life and I forgot that sometimes you can run on fumes for a couple weeks before it really hits you. Then it really hit me and I had to start dropping things out of my days like nobody's business. Even blogging, which you may have noticed I failed to do last week. This wasn't helped by an error on my part that led to me being without medication for two days (more on that later). I tried to run before I could walk and I paid the price, but thankfully the Easter weekend came exactly when I needed it and I'm feeling much better from 4 days of a lot of TV and sleep and not much else.

I'm glad I got a job. Working is helping in a lot of ways, even if it's leaving me tired for now. I know that won't last forever and having a routine is good for me, getting out of the house more is good for me, building up more stamina is good for me and exercising my brain is good for me. And it's nice to be earning again.


2 comments:

  1. Congrats on your new job! What type of job is it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congrats on your new job! What type of job is it?

    ReplyDelete