The last few weeks have been an absolute whirlwind, more chaos than peace. A move to the countryside just before Halloween as renting in the city was proving to be a strain on the bank accounts, but the move also had to result in a change of occupation.
My boyfriend and I managed to secure a job in a new supermarket opening up out in our new countryside town, but our luck was short-lived as our timetable showed us working six days in a row with a 2pm – 11pm shift with only one day off in between before plunging us back into another six days in a row.
As someone who deals with anxiety and depression, it’s difficult. Keeping a balance between work life and having a life outside of work is important to me, but now the work side of things on the scale is heavier than the personal life side.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a working professional or a student, but people need to be able to live their lives, they need to be able to have a life because we only have one and that can’t be wasted working for long hours every day. Also, what do you do when you bring up this personal problem only to be completely dismissed. I’ve often had jobs where I’ve been dismissed and treated badly; it’s something I’ve been trying to escape from, but there’s the difficulty of acquiring a new job in the area when there’s so little being posted.
We were hoping for some good news as we texted our landlord, asking politely if pets were allowed. We have been wanting to welcome a dog or a cat into the family for some time, but our requests were always denied. It brought a real downer on our lives.
However, efforts have been made to establish some form of positivity in our lives until we get things back on track; efforts like visiting the Christmas Market in Eyre Square with my two younger siblings and squeezing in time to buy affordable Christmas presents.
There’s a certain feeling of humour and embarrassment while waiting at the bus stop with your 17-year-old sister and 13-year-old brother as they’re killing one another by smacking and kicking each other; they love each other, really.
We treated our taste buds at the market with Nutella crepes and fudge while taking in the lights and the Ferris Wheel. It was news to me that my brother is truly terrified of the Ferris Wheel as when we hit the top of the structure, the ride came to a halt and we would have taken in the beautiful scenes below us, but it’s hard to do that when the wind is blowing a storm and your brother is screaming for the ride to move lower.
There’s also the excitement of preparing our home for the Christmas décor to go up soon. We are aiming to have it up towards the end of November. If there’s one thing I love, it’s putting up the Christmas tree and decorations while Christmas music plays in the background.
Perhaps, my boyfriend and I will visit my parents, who live just down the road, and help them put up their Christmas décor too. My mum is a huge Christmas fan, her range of décor is greater than any amount of Christmas stock in a shop. In times of severe change, it’s important to focus on the positives that are still in your life, it’s easier said than done, but the positives are what get us through.
