Skip to main content

Taking care of my mental health. A brief hiatus is in order

 

Without going into to much detail, I decided to leave my job at the beginning of September.  There are many reasons for this but for some time I've been feeling that my current position has not been the best fit for either the company or myself.   

I did not feel like the company was listening to my concerns nor do I feel like they really cared for their employee's; despite a killer benefit package that I'll never see again.  Their technology was at least 20 years behind everyone else and  I believe that they really didn't have the best interests of their customers at heart.

It's not all their fault.  I'm to blame too as it seems that I've not been living up to their goals and needs for the last year, and this is one of the reasons it's taken me so long to write this blog post.

In addition to trying to find a new job before the end of the month, I've been dealing with anxiety and a mild case of depression.  Writing a blog that deals with nature, climate change and other issues hasn't helped much either.  There is a lot more bad news out there than good news lately.

For most of my adult life I've had some type of depression; and I have learned to deal with it through talk therapy and the use of  Cognitive Restructuring Techniques.   This is the first time in a long time that my depression has reared it's ugly head...and I've been able to step back and look at it in a healthy way.  

Anxiety and depression can be related, or they can be two separate things.   This is the part of the program where I tell you to reach out to your local health department or call your HR person at work and find out what mental health benefits are provided for you.   There is no shame or stigma in getting some help.

To often our mental health gets ignored.  It's getting better, in that it no longer has the stigma it used to have...but it's still an uphill battle for a lot of people.  Personally I don't think that I've truly fully processed the death of my parents...and I seem to have a five year pattern when it comes to work that is something that I will see a trained professional for.  More often than not, we all have something that we need to talk about but can't for what ever reason.

This climate anxiety is new to me however but it appears that I've found a good group of people from all around the world that are working - each in some small way - to make it better.  And for that I am grateful. 


It's nice to know that we are not alone in this battle...and that sometimes we all have to just step back and take a breather.  It is going to be okay.

I'll be back.  I just need to step aside for a little bit of time and take care of myself first.

Comments

  1. Take care of yourself so you can continue to care for the earth. You are important.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

What all the cool kids are reading.

The Home Improvement Blues

      When I sit down to write something, I do so for two reasons; the first is that yes, I want to remember my thoughts and feeling about a particular moment in time, so in some ways this blog serves as my journal.  The second reason is that I hope to impart some knowledge or information on.  In the hope that you, gentle reader, might learn something new or, more likely, avoid the mistakes I make.        I leave that decision up to you.       Thus, in some ways you can blame our youngest cat, Bobble, for our upcoming spending a lot of money on window's and other home improvements.       Our first winter in Western Pennsylvania was not really that bad.  This year it seemed we had weeks of sub zero temperatures and several feet of snow.  Our house was physically colder.   Now if your wondering why I'm blaming the cat then please read on dear reader.   ...

Interlude

  Hey everyone!  Did you know that this page now has a companion Facebook page?    It will have articles, memes and such that interes t me that relate to this page but don't really apply.  Be sure to check it o ut!      I find myself in a holding pattern.       The generator has been ordered and is making it's way slowly to me, it will take approximately two weeks to find it's way to my door.   In the mean time I have the estimate from one  electrician and I'm waiting on the estimates of two more.   I am a bit fearful that I will have no choice than to go above my self imposed $1500 budget.        I'm also fearful that after having all this work done, that the generator will sit unused in my shed.  Although if I am serious about becoming more self sufficient, then I'm sure that it will come in use, somehow and someway.       It has occurred t...

Climate change denialism and what two old farmers taught me.

  I am not that creative of a person.  Yes, I write and have written some fiction and such but I have more of an analytic mind.  I like to deal with facts, numbers and hard data.  The conclusions that I've reached are driven by columns of pluses and minuses. I'm not going to lie, much of my belief system and philosophical views are based on rational and scientific thinking.   Most, if not all of the the work that I've done all my life was driven by data and information.  When you understand what the data tells you, it affects your world view in a lot of different ways. For example, data from the FBI and other sources state that the most violent city in America is not Chicago or New York; but the tiny city of Bessemer, Alabama.  For a city of only 26,000 people, the chance of you being a victim of a violent crime is 1 in 30.    In a place like New York city, the chances of you being a victim of a violent crime is only 1 in 192. ...