Saturday, May 3, 2014

Life Updates and Good Stuff!

Sorry to have left writing another post so long. Things have been busy around here. Lots of (mostly wonderful) changes lately. Here is what's been going on:

I moved! I've been wanting to change where I lived for awhile for lots of reasons. Not least of which was that where I was living did not work well for my health. On the one hand, I was really lucky that I was able to pretty easily make it wheelchair accessible, but it was also up a big hill that was difficult when I was walking and scary going down in the chair. It was far enough away from the bus stop that if I needed to walk to the bus, that was itself a major task. That walk in particular was a big part of why I had to go part-time with my placement. A friend who is also a wheelchair user was looking to move and since we had similar access needs we decided to look for a place together. The timing worked out well and we found a place we both loved pretty quickly. I can't even explain how much better this living situation is. I think I was unaware until I left how much energy I was wasting on living in a place that really wasn't suited to my needs. The new place is ground floor, level access, in a lovely and flat bit of town and much closer to a bus stop. Plus it's just generally a much nicer flat than where I was living. The moving process, which I was really worried about, ended up being a breeze. Between me and my flatmate, we had 12 people helping us on moving day! I felt so cared for and supported :)

I went to a conference in a totally different bit of the country! For months I'd been planning and getting excited for the Social Work Action Network conference in Durham. I knew it'd be a major stretch for me physically, so I planned very carefully. I booked accessible accommodation on campus so I could get back to my bed easily when I needed rest, I carefully planed the journey there and back and I reminded myself that just showing up was a big accomplishment. I had a fantastic time and was incredibly pleased with the degree to which I was able to participate. Projects have grown out of bits of the conference that I was involved with; those are exciting, too.

I finished placement! I made it to the end of my final social work placement. That feels like a really massive accomplishment. I spent a lot of my placement figuring out what adaptations I needed to manage my health alongside the work and I'm coming out of it with a much clearer sense of what I'll need manage a social work job alongside my ME.

I got a job! I've been offered a social work job with one of my local councils. This is very exciting a huge relief! They even seem really on-board in our discussions about the adaptations I'll need in terms of working from home and such. I'm still applying another local council as I'd rather work in that one but having the back-up offer is a huge load off.

Things have finally slowed down! For the next month or so I'll be working on my dissertation and a final presentation. Those feel well in hand and can both be done largely from bed which means my body is much happier with me at the moment. Having the ability to work entirely from home and on my own schedule is basically an ideal situation for someone with a fluctuating chronic illness like mine. If I need to rest, I do. If I need to write a day off, that's ok. I take 2-3 hours off in the afternoon, which just wouldn't work in an office. I can work lying down rather than sitting up, which makes a significant difference. This new flexibility also means I've had time and energy to do social things and work on projects that I love but which have been sidelined for the past year. I'm cooking again, I've been out with friends and to a music gig and I have managed in-person grocery shopping. Normal stuff to lots of people, but doing those things is seriously exciting to me at this point! After my final hand-ins for my Uni work, I'll have at least a month off (probably 2 or 3) before starting work. I'm really excited about what I'll be able to do with that time :)

So things are good at the moment. I've made significant progress in adapting major areas of my life (housing, work, mobility, etc) so that they work as well as possible with my health issues. I know starting a new job will bring new challenges, but for now I'll enjoy this in-between bit!