Work update

Right - I've avoided posting much about work along the way as I've had a few differing ideas about what was going to happen. However, reality kicks in and the situation is this.

I'm no longer signed off work sick - as of last Thursday I am officially fit and well again. (It's actually been longer than that but a lot of the last month or more has been a paper / bureaucratic nightmare!) I am, however, currently on annual leave. Well - I needed a break from work after having 7 months off! ;-) (More of that bureaucracy again unfortunately). I'm actually going back to work on Thursday 1st April (and no it's not a joke!). In the meantime, to stop me going completely insane (...errr ... again?!?!) I'm starting this week volunteering at my local Oxfam shop. So there you go.

This being off sick lark has really raised a number of observations about "the system" though. It's quite ridiculous how difficult it is to return to work after being off. I've been trying to go back since the start of February! That may be just the Cornwall Council system of course - but overall things really aren't easy when you're off for any length of time. I even entered the murky realm of 'benefits'. Oh my word how complex is that system?! I'm supposed to be intelligent but even I couldn't fathom out what I was supposed to do with the reams of paper they sent me. The worst thing about the whole thing is that this system is supposed to be in place to help people who are ill. Well if you have the slightest hint of mental illness like I did, you don't stand a chance. Really - I now completely understand how people manage to lose their jobs, homes, families etc. through this.

I wouldn't wish the whole mental illness thing on anyone - it's not been pleasant - but now I've come out the other side I think it's really given me one heck of an insight into a very different world. It's quite humbling and enlightening really.