ls it healthier to work and live while having depression , or is there a centerlink disability pension, and if so , which is healthier ?

[Guest_1584]

Hey people .

l've met people on all kinds of Centerlink disability things over the yrs but can you get onto something due to depression ?

But then as in the title , maybe it's actually healthier for you to actually be out there in life and working and functioning ? - bloody hate that word but it's the only description l could think of . So what does everyone do , and which do they find is better ?

At one stage through a really bad patch l just didn't feel l could work or cope. So l asked Centerlink they told me l'd have to see the gp , get referrals ,go and get assessments and all kinds of other things can't remember exact details , but it was a nightmare l'd worry that l'd spend wks or mths putting myself through and then maybe get nothing anyway. But ok l'll just start with the gp and see where that goes first. And they told me it could get me 3mths , what, 3mths, but then l'd have to do it all again to get an extension or another 3mths and then again , and again , or some rubbish can't remember the exact details but it sounded far worse than the alternative and just struggling on to me.

Well, what a useless stressing , draining effort that was , here's a grown man in the mess l was in felt like l just couldn't even go on let alone cope or do real life , work , pressures buttt, saw a gp yet all he said was l'll give you a certificate for 2 days off . Two days, wt - to keep it polite here, 2 days l needed 2 wks just from the stress of dealing with him that once , without adding in my real problems. He wouldn't even give me a referral for the next step. Acted like there was nothin wrong with me meanwhile l'm wondering if l wanted to go on l mean that's the state l was in.

Centerlink also wanted me to enroll with a job agency and so here l was having to tell some 19yr old girl with a button and computer and the power to send me packing with no damn clue how  l was or living , threatening to stop any payment if l didn't jump through their hoops too in the meantime, it was insanity .And all that took about 2 wks of stress driving sitting round waiting and explaining myself over and over and what little money l had at the time on petrol , it was a nightmare and left me in worse shape than l started.

rx

[white knight]

Random x

After about 90 jobs spanning 15 professions (due to mania) I secured my dream job- investigations. I worked aline, drove up to 100,000km a year and it was exciting, with boring hours too, but I loved it.

I used to say to everyone "I'll work into my 70's". I lasted to 57yo, 8 years ago, fell in a heap+ 2 psychotic episodes.

Seems endurance, lack thereof effects us heavily. I need stimulation and variety. I don't tolerate bully bosses, annoying work mate nor corruption and tall poppys.

So you are not alone.

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Beyondblue topic guilt the tormentor

TonyWK

[Guest_1584]

Gday Tony

100k a yr that is a lot of k, lot of jobs too but it's understandable with mh issues . l had quite a few different jobs after leaving school and dropped out or lost a few apprenticeships too but always planned on working for myself and started my first business at 23. l've always refused to compete but rather do my own thing on my terms but the politics of working for a boss between workers and the competing to go up or impress to get somewhere and clocking on just never was for me.

lt must've been a rough yr at 57 how did you survive from there , disability p or ? Trouble is it's so hard to get now but it sounds like a gorgeous finish though in the end. Remarried , a bush block , house and all settled , my dream.

l can lighten my work up a lot and l've started doing that last yr and into this one now but at the same time my coping with even that lately now has slipped to even less and over taken the lighter load already and l don't see it coming back tbh.

rx

[Guest_1584]

Well after all my crapping on about people l've met and admired , still working at all ages and looking so good for it.

Well , as we know it's one thing to admire people in life , in anything , but that doesn't mean we can do the same. As much as l've read about and admired some people l've met , in down times l just don't fell like l could be one of them , or even in up times actually bc up times are so fragile anyway , takes nothing to turn what few up times we can scrounge out of ourselves , to turn it all on it's head, a pin drop.

Well started the yr innot a good way but tried to lift spirits and forge on , last few wks though it's felt nearly impossible and today l went to see centerlink , again.

lt's amazing isn't it , the total look of nothingness or comprehension they give you. Blurt out their big lists of rules and paperwork and doctors and requirements they'd need , like a robot with souless eyes and emotion. l'm afraid it's even worse than it was yrs ago the last time l inquired and they've added some extra goodies in there , just to make sure if ur not quite there yet you sure as hell will be by the time they finish with you. l really don't know how people even go through it and what it takes .

Anyway , they ain't gonna be happening that's for sure.

rx

[Aunt Jobiska]

Hi - I'm pretty sure the standard line is that if you can work, that's healthier, that the benefits in terms of behavioral activation, social interaction etc outweigh the costs (stress). Having said that, not everyone can work. And here in Australia, being on Centrelink with depression sounds like a nightmare, but you don't need extra incentive to work!

[Guest_1584]

Thanks for the thoughts , appreciated.

Since my last post l've picked up a bit and even actually enjoying work this wk , and a lot of the other things l've been doing , so that's a nice change so l'm using the wave . l'd always have things to do working or not , but yeah l know now l'd rather be doing something or l'd find it even more depressing sitting round on centrelink and not having much money , and dealing with them. So for this yr at least , l'll soldier on , see what it brings, no choice anyway.

rx

[Zanthus]

I have just finished reading this thread and now feel better than I did this morning

(When I elected not to eat so as to avoid... I not sure what I'm avoiding most time)

Anyway I wanted to say that reading about how you have kept working through you're dark patches has helped me a lot I'm an aspiring writer at the moment in that I aspire to return to my writing

I have a whole story planed but after some an emotionaly charged scene I've had a lot of trouble returning to the work somehow my main characters problems seem larger then reality and I feel upset that I let bad things happen to her. But I defrntly fell flater since I bailed on the story.

[Guest_1584]

Hi Zanthus .

Well glad something helped that's nice to know , l've been really pleased with the input too it's helped me a lot too.

Not sure if l tend to drop into this one when l;m on highs though or on lows too but l feel like l tend to tell only the goods though tbh so l hope that's not the case bc they're unfortunately few between. l haven't even finished one job yet this yr and have bled savings down to almost nothing so l have no choice now but to knuckle down and finish this first one asap, Not sure how that's gonna happen l'm afraid l'm slipping backwards lately butttt, l'll have to get it done no ifs or buts now. l've been experimenting cutting any hrs l do work down to even less than usual but that's not helping either , it seems the less l do the more trouble l have doing more. l'd normally have a few jobs done and gone by this time of yr.

l could well understand what your saying with the writing , l was a painter for a long time but actually got out of it for , well one reason was the emotional side of it that kind of took over . l would imagine with books and characters and the intensity needed that would be 10 fold . Wonder if it would help doing happy books haha. You know l use to think about certain artists that just painted all this happy carefree light hearted fun stuff , or cartoonists say , and that if l only painted stuff like that in those ways , then l'd have none of the heaviness l felt in the work l did.

Hope you can find your motivation again and thanks very much for the thoughts.

rx

[Guest_1584]

God l just heard today retirement age in China is only 60. Bit of a surprise for a place like China.

Australia's is 67 and we're one of the longest working hour nations in the world , and one of the highest taxed. Although our hours are supposedly 38 pw , with our mortgages and cost of living the average family man works 55hrs. And now they wanna work us till we drop too to get even more money out of us.

The lucky country eh. rx

rx

[Guest_1584]

l really don't know how to get the mojo back.

l know l'll get through this yr, bc l have to. But l've redesigned work with a new strategy this yr and so now l only need to do half what l did last yr , a quarter of other yrs earlier.l won't have quite as much income but l'll live with that.

The thing is though , even with the hrs l work now , this yr has gotten harder and harder. l know myself well and l know it isn't coming back , it's not just a faze or some off colour atm, it's real. It's tiredness , it's mentally exhausted and depression zapping energy , it's wanting to just stay in bed and not have to face the world or be forced anymore. l'm also bored with my job lately , not that l wanna be going into something else now l have zero interest in that either. l just want to stop.

My daughter come out with a funny thing the other wk , can't even remember what we were talking about , it wasn't this though. But she laughed at something and said yep you gotta use it or lose it. And of course l thought of all this bc that is true and l've often thought that exact saying this last yr or two . What lf l could just stay in bed and not do anymore , just not , then what .? you'd lose it right.l even tell my gf it's good for her to do things and she's a different person when she does do things it picks her right up and she has new energy and everything , new enthusiasm , zest .

At any rate , l've been thinking all yr and there might be a way l could stop working altogether next yr un l could get a pension which is a ways off yet , without having to go through centerlink bs.

So l'm thinking and plotting and looking into a few things involved , we see it is doable. lf not next yr def' by the next . So if worst comes to worst l'd maybe have to work next yr too but only part time and l think l'd be done after that.

rx

[Guest_1584]

l think dropping my hrs this yr is backfiring,

Thing is this job is taking mths and mths longer. So l'm working over a much longer period , mths longer and dragging things out . Rather than doing longer hrs per day but finishing much sooner and then l can be off work again for awhile, l think l was better off doing things that way.

Cutting day hrs is just something l'm trying this yr so we'll just see how it pans out l suppose really. ln my situation and business there's been a lot of juggling, trialing and strategy changes last few yrs. First l went in with my mate as a partnership , worked longer made less so that was out . Then the crazy covid yr and among that the let down with not being able to finish or back right off work after all , that l'd been was expecting this yr and waiting on 4yrs. That one really hurt. Before all that my job and business had pretty well just been ticking over same most yrs in out for the 9 yrs earlier. But l was working much harder and not making as gooder money so hence some mixing it up and experimenting .

lf l must be working this newer way l've been trying is much much better for sure just needs some fine tuning . don't think l could go back to the longer hrs though , just can't find the mojo so shorter hrs is the only way l've been able to get into it at all butttt , we see.

lf l must work tbh l certainly couldn't complain compared to what normal people have to do 5days a wk all yr , but hopefully with some fine tuning l can get what l do have to do to a point that l can still tick over and cope with.

rx