Of Mice and Men

If you have been following this blog, then you might be aware that I have not posted much in the last week. Well, a series of unfortunate events at one of my jobs has meant that I am doing more time for them. This is a shame because I had just started my traditional outdoorsy summer job which I make time to do every year. In fact it’s more like therapy than a job. Research has suggested that working outdoors and with the earth is beneficial for your mental health, and getting paid for it is beneficial to your wallet. Don’t tell my boss, but I would actually do it for free if I had to. It’s sod’s law that my other job is indoors, and now that I am doing extra days there, the weather is finally nice. So I’m feeling pretty stressed at the moment as my plans (at least as far as work is concerned) are kind of falling apart.

IT should only be for a week and a half, but I have a nasty feeling that it could be extended. At the end of last week, one of my co-workers lost a couple of fingers. I was there when it happened. Let me tell you now, half a lifetime of playing violent games and watching violent films doesn’t necessarily prepare you for violence in real life. I actually remained calmer than I would have thought, and helped to dress the wound as well as we could with blood spurting everywhere. Luckily I’m not sick at the sight of blood or I could have been cleaning up blood and vomit. I felt a little shocked, though I managed to busy myself with work for the rest of the day. Night however was a different thing. When I finally closed my eyes, all I could see was several bloody stumps. Not what I would call conducive to a good night’s sleep.

All in all it means that we are further behind work than we should be, so I might get asked to do extra time, which I’m dreading. I’m torn between loyalty to the firm and the need to do my other job (which makes me happy). One week’s disruption to my routine is bad enough, but more? What is keeping me going is the knowledge that at the moment it is just a week left. Well that and a terrific Cognitive Behavioural Technique (CBT) called mindfulness. Essentially you have to focus on what you are doing and feeling right now (really similar to meditation in Zen Buddhism) and forget the past and future; concentrate on the moment. It helps a lot in any stressful situations. Hopefully though, I should be back to normal next week. Hopefully.