Coping

All posts tagged Coping

Swearing – Who Me?

Published October 2, 2023 by helentastic67

Swearing – Who Me?

It should be needless to say; I’ve become a bit of a potty mouth in the last fifteen years since my disability. With the best of intentions, I’ll be swearing a lot here today, but all within context.

Hope you can cope? Note, not a question.

When I worked for that shitty NGO (Non-Government Organisation) twenty years ago, it was a Christian Non-Denominal Not for Profit and the grumpy ex-chef taught me one of my favourite swear words that he made work appropriately. Sort of, he would sit and behind his desk, pull up his pants and state rather loudly, “Jesus!”  Brief pause “Mary! and Joseph!” I don’t know if my more Godly followers are still reading. But if that’s offended you? You should probably stop reading now. It’s only going downhill from there.

I don’t even know what I wrote for the more devout to follow me to start with, but hang in there, I’ve got something for everyone.

Meanwhile, I express, the above workplace I only refer to these days as Voldemort! If not familiar? He’s the evil person in Harry Potter and they do not utter his name for fear just doing so will bring forth his evil, I will circle back to that one day but it’s a dark place I don’t often venture.

Occasionally, I’d be out with a carer and witness stupidity from another driver on the road and I would let out a “Jesus!” Just that and my driver/carer/wheel woman would complete the saying. I’d compliment her with a “Your training is complete!”

It’s not always needed but when my boss used it, I would look in his direction and enquire, “Is that our caseload?” He would be cleaning his spectacles in quiet contemplation and I asked, “What is it?” He would quote a number that was not good.

The term caseload indicated how many clients we had currently referred to us to get in the door, get Placed or get Exited for one of many reasons. But mostly, it indicated how we were doing a lot of work and if not being efficient enough we were not actually getting paid for it. Other favourite swear words since, have been Sassafras, it’s actually an outer Melbourne suburb where it’s rather nice and lovely, but really, it’s just my creative way to swear. What does that mean? I don’t know. Whatever you think it should? Alas, I should stretch my other creative genius on swearing to another post. 


Understanding

Published February 13, 2023 by helentastic67

Understanding

Some people might not understand why I’ve been sharing all the stuff about my father’s recent passing and partly, because it’s happening and it’s something we all go through, the passing of a loved one, family, parent, friend, whoever.

However, I’m also dealing with that on top of already dealing with my brain injury. Sometimes, people dealing or not dealing with how they are coping or not coping, I’m doing that too. On top of already dealing with my disability.

It might be 15 years since my disability happened but new things on top of that is like the first day of having my disability all over again. The disability stuff does NOT GO AWAY or TAKE a BREAK! Even something new comes along.

It is ON TOP OF…

Can’t Pick ‘Em

Published July 4, 2022 by helentastic67

Can’t Pick ‘Em

More recently when I had my regular carer away on holidays for two weeks, I had a replacement carer. This lady had three shifts that week of more than three hours each shift to cover.

On the Tuesday, I had carer “A”, she quickly unpacked all of her emotional baggage. There is a tendency for friendly banter. She was very new to being a carer and she was telling me all about her husband’s first wife’s impact on her marriage and how he didn’t understand why at her age, she had gone back to study.

She was in her fifty’s and she had chosen to change her career and being a support worker requires qualifications. She was expecting me to be her mental health care provider. 

On the way home from this shift, I received a text that this carer “A” would cover the rest of my shifts while my regular was away. I knew I would not cope so put a block on her. It seems to mean, but I’ve worked out in my short time which carers I can cope with and which ones I can’t.