Midlife Madness

So today is my birthday!

40 years, never in a million years did I think I would make it to this milestone. Despite trying my best to kill myself multiple times, I am somehow still here. I find that cause to celebrate. A subway with all the toppings is en route.

I got cards this morning and S made me some stickers to use. I had a meeting with a few people this morning to do with mental health. They are going to put a few things in place to help out. I had to show them my arm with all the bruising from the past few days. They said that when it turns into killing myself then call the emergency services. Because obviously, you think of doing that when you are in the ‘zone’. I guess they have to tell you that just in case you do something so they are covered.

They’ve arranged a big meeting in September where all my caseworkers are being assembled to see if they have sorted my housing and mental health things out. It’s an accountability meeting with 7 people on the must-attend list. That petrifies me, but the social worker this morning reassured me about it. It’s a good meeting not a bad one and if I don’t want it all at once I can separate it. He is also going to chase up the housing officer who has been assigned my case to see what steps he is taking to make things happen. Basically, I need a place to live. Then everything else will fall into place.

R remembered it was my birthday and sent me wishes. This made me happy.

I’ll probably do a QOTD since I love doing them, later.

…

40 more years. Christ.

Reborn #2

Today is a new day, a whole brand new fresh day, and one to move on with. I’m currently covered in scratches from Dobby as it was bath time and hair trimming. Much hair was lost. But alas I found it on my trousers, t-shirt, and underwear. Everywhere. Not that I mind but I’m still a bit awkward around D after yesterday and it takes two people to clean the dog and sort the hair out. Fortunately, it involves me sitting on the floor with a lead which is something that I can do without the sticks.

Hate talking about them now. I’m still getting grief because I’m not using two. I suppose I’ll fall over at some point when only using one for the message to get into my head. I know she means well and that’s what the doctor has ordered but being berated every time they visit doesn’t help. The house is full of crappy tension as it is and that pushed me over the edge yesterday and I self-harmed.

Not proud of what I did but I did admit it to my social worker. Poor guy. He’s new and got both barrels from me when I had to explain what’s up and what is going on at the moment. I explained that I’m safe and it was needed to de-escalate the way my mood was swinging. So now I get the reset the counter again but you know what, who cares, no damage was done to anyone, and I’m still here which I might not have been if I didn’t do it. The unhealthy coping strategy of a borderline.

The social worker is going to try and help me out with a few things. He managed to sort me a doctor’s appointment for next Friday. I was surprised, as the doctor’s office called me before the social worker. “Hi Dr x would like to see you next Friday.” she politely said, “Why does the doctor want to see me?” I asked. “No, he just wants to see you but hasn’t said why”. Confused as ever, which is pretty much always, my social worker then rang me to say he spoke to the doctor’s receptionist and asked for one. He said it’d do me good to speak to them to see if I can get some more referrals to speed up the housing process. I’m trying my hardest to save up as I need a deposit and the first month’s rent. But it’s the summer holidays so every penny is going to the kids, food shopping, and bills. I think there is a grant service out there that helps out with things like this. I’ll do some more digging online and see if there is anything.

When D pointed out that I have no friends to go to it was a stark reminder that for various reasons I don’t make friends very easily. I’ve always tended to be a loner. I’ve always had O who lives in Sheffield and he is the bestie. He’s going through some stuff right now so trying not to pester him so he can work on himself. I have dickhead (brother) but that’s, yeah, no, a whole ton of issues with me, him, and everything. So maybe I should look at groups. There is an app called Meet Up. I use it for charity to arrange workshops and tech sessions. I also know a club that is open to the public which has counselors running the group. There is one on Monday at 7pm so will try and get myself ready mentally for that. At least then I can meet people I don’t know in a safe space. I know one of the people and he’s offered to meet me early so I get used to the venue. Or I might skip that and see him during the day and offload then.

I must confess I had a nap halfway through this post and feel better about it. On a similar note, why do humans drool in their sleep? Woke up with a wet face not caused by the usual dog slobber. Unless they do it while I’m asleep on the sofa. Bastards! 😉

Nap time is essential for world domination. Remember that.

Unmarked Graves

“Reality continues to ruin my life.”
― Bill Watterson, The Complete Calvin and Hobbes

I want to write about something that affects everyone, not mental health for a change, but about the cost of living crisis we are in at the moment. How does it affect us? What can we do to stop it? it’s a complex issue which is blamed on multiple things.

The COL started just before the Ukraine was invaded by Russia, then the markets slowly started losing hope and most things crashed. Before we knew it, 10%+ inflation on everything. Petrol was hit really hard with is almost reaching £2 a litre which is insane. The government took action but this is where I run into a problem. For all the work they are doing, why hasn’t it dropped yet, inflation I mean. I know they are probably stemming the tide of it but I’m getting sick of a weekly shop costing in excess of £100, where as it used to be well under £90. I know that doesn’t sound much but every little helps because the bugger of electric/gas bill is on its way,

On a separate note there are food shortages which I don’t think even gets a mention on the news anymore. Shops are stocking less because some products are hard to get hold of. Brexit must of had a big effect on lorrys coming over with goods. Then there is the egg problem due to avian flu. I miss having chickens, at least then we had a resource of our own. Dont think the neighbours would like it much if I built a coup out back.

People are starving. People are freezing, People don’t have eggs. For some reason this isn’t mentioned much on TV. Almost as if they are avoiding segments about it. Its a shame though. Unless you are on benefits you don’t get the extra payments. You feel guilty for putting on the heating. Since I work from home mostly I set it to 17c then increase it when the kids and D come home. Probably doesn’t help that I’m running a home lab for web dev.

To conclude; I think its a downside of living on a relatively small island who have voted themselves out of Europe, a war in Ukraine costing billions and avian flu. Not that I’m against helping ukraine but I think the people of this country need help as well. We are being forgotten.