Wednesday 9 June 2010

Back from the wilderness......

It has been a long, long time since I visited my own blog. 7 months to be precise.

A lot has happened in 7 months. Career wise I have been on some wild rampage going from job to job seemingly unstoppable. It has been a mentally taxing time and I dare say I came very close to losing it all together. Thankfully, I didn't and things are now some what more stable. Kinda.

At the time of my last post, I was setting off into a career with Phones4u. A truly horrendous proposition. I had always said I would never work for them as my other half did at the time and I knew what they were like. Needs must though and we were struggling for money so I had to suck up my pride, and start working from the bottom of the pile again. I was sitting on a bus for 3 hours a day to get to Carlisle to con nice people out of their money and take orders from a jumped up little prick who turned out to be only 2 years older than me. I have never worked with such a pure wanker in all my days. The weird thing was though, out of work he was a decent bloke. As a manager though, horrific. He came very close to getting a right hook on more than one occasion. Condescending little bastard. I stuck this job out until March of 2010, when I landed a job as assistant manager at Cotswold in Carlisle. I was working for an old friend and colleague and was out of the mobile phone industry at last. Bliss.

This career move was short lived though. I had applied for another job back in February whilst still at Phones4uevenifyoudontwantone. It had been ages, I had heard nothing so was very surprised to get a call off my now current employer. The worst thing was I was I was loving being back at Cotswold, it had been 5 years since I worked for them and a lot had changed. I fitted in well with the team and was happy. The new job was at first a bit of a gamble. I was leaving a secure and thriving national firm to go and work for an independent climbing wall manufacturer. I had left Orange all those months ago to go to a independent mobile phone retailer and look where that got me. I went and spoke to the MD and decided to accept the job, It was closer to home, 8-5 Monday through Friday, more money, bank hols and Xmas etc off, a normal job. It was a good gamble as well as it has turned out to be a great job, dare I say it, the best job I have ever had? Yes, I think so. 2 months down the line and I still love it. Every day is different. Driving forklifts one day, testing mobile towers another. Ordering a load of holds for a wall one day, working on a new build the next. Totally varied and totally brilliant. I work with great people and more importantly I work with a great guy who is a strong climber who wants to get out. Winner. At last I am settled and with a new climbing partner I am getting out more and more. I am training, I even put a harness on the other day and did some routes at the wall!! Superb. Then there is my health......


....Which is finally getting under control. Three little letters in the end: IBS. After months of illness and feeling so bad I did actually think I could be facing death, I have emerged ok. I went to see a little old lady in a health shop who really helped. I am on a super restricted diet but I don't care. I feel alive again, better on all fronts. I don't feel so wretched that I could barely get up in the morning. I have energy again, blood in my veins. It feels good to be alive. I am not in the dark anymore, I know how to make myself feel better, or feel worse! I pay the price if I stray from my diet but some times I do. You learn to take the rough with the smooth sometimes. On the whole, it is manageable, easily. You just have to be committed.

The last 12 months have been mostly difficult. Being closer to home was a major perk in my new job for more than just transportation costs and travel time. My other half was diagnosed with depression and severe stress so I had to be closer to home. She was left in charge of our little girl on a now full time basis and this worried me terribly. It was not good for either of them. Depression is a difficult thing for me to comprehend. My other half, brother, uncle, Auntie, cousin, another uncle and at least 4 friends are all depressed and off work. I cant seem to quantify it. I have suffered some awful things in my life, enough to potentially make anyone depressed but I'm not. I can understand how hard things are sometimes but I cant understand the point when you go from being ok, to depressed. I am of the same train of thought as my dad, these people should be smacked round the head and told to pull themselves together. If only it was that simple. Living with a depressed person is hard work, really hard. It is hard to describe, it is like trying to juggle I think. You have to make sure so many things are happening at once and so many things are getting looked after that sometimes something inevitably drops and when it drops it drops big style. My other half has been off for 3 months now and wont be going balc to work for Phones4u. It breeds negative feelings in people, it spawns bad things. It really should be avoided at all costs.

So to summarise, I am climbing again, I am healthier, I am still off the smokes, don't work for Phones4u EVER, take gambles on jobs, enjoy your children. Live by these rules and you will be ok. Probably.

2 comments:

  1. Welcome back. Fancy giving me a tour of the cobble sometime this summer?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Uptown.

    I will gladly give you a tour of the cobble. Let meknow when you're planning on visiting and I will try to meet you.

    Mike

    ReplyDelete