Yep that title is correct - the downside. There are obviously so many benefits; actually getting things done, feeling alive but for me there has been a downside. I have recently been diagnosed with underactive thyroid or hypothyroidism.
Hypothyroidism usually develops gradually. The symptoms are mild, and you may not even notice them at first. This is called subclinical hypothyroidism.
Hypothyroidism causes a general slowing down of your body's functions. Some of the symptoms include:
feeling tired and sleeping a lot
feeling the cold easily
dry and/or pale skin
coarse, thinning hair and brittle nails
sore muscles, slow movements and weakness
a hoarse or croaky voice
a change in facial expression
depression
problems with memory and concentration
weight gain
constipation
fertility problems and increased risk of miscarriage
heavy, irregular or prolonged menstrual periods
a slow heart rate
Reforming my procrastinating ways has helped ease some of these symptoms, I've been forcing myself to carry on seeing friends and going out so I think this has prevented me from being depressed. However, it has also made me extremely tired. Constantly forcing myself to keep going has made me become exhausted over time and for the last week I have had to take a week off work to recharge my batteries.
Before I was off work, I spoke to a thyroid specialist who advised me that it could take a year for me to be on the right dosage of medication to actually feel normal again. This news completely stopped me and has made me unable to force myself into work and to carry on with my life. I think the problem was that I am an eternal optimist (not usually described as a problem I know!) but because of this I have managed to plough through the hard times when I have been exhausted as long as I have some point in the future to focus on (as in a doctors or hospital appointment). I managed to carry on for a month or so focussing on this appointment with the specialist, optimistic that he would say something that would improve my situation. Faced with the fact that it might be a while until I felt better I really didn't know how to handle it.
I started the week feeling really miserable (probably a result of my crushed optimism) and crying sporadically for no reason. While relaxing I've thrown myself into things that I can do whilst resting such as my knitting and researching my family tree. These are projects I've been trying to do for a while so I'm glad to have had the time to concentrate on these projects albiet not in the best of circumstances.
After a week on sick leave I've finally managed to finish knitting my cardigan (just need to sew the buttons on), trace my family tree back to 1755, learnt the importance of slowing down once in a while and most importantly got my optimism back!
Friday 17 September 2010
Tuesday 14 September 2010
3 months later
Well I haven't blogged for 4 months. Ironically my blog about procrastinating became something that I have procrastinated about the most. Three months is a long time so I'm not sure where to begin about what I have been doing.
The main event is having a flood, my bathroom tap was left on while I was at work and it flooded out my living room, destroying my laptop, tv and living room. Obviously, this took up a lot of my time and having no internet connection and no laptop is a big hurdle for blogging! The flood taught me a lot. I couldn't procrastinate with things like cleaning up a flood, dealing with the insurance company and keeping the rest of the house tidy. When it comes to housework I think I'm on the road to procrastinating recovery. It also taught me how unimportant possessions really are, when I discovered the damage to my house I realised within a couple of minutes that nothing was destroyed that couldn't be replaced. Amazingly this made me calm in the crisis. I like to think that it was my new outlook on life that made me feel so calm that day.
In May I spent an amazing weekend in London, I saw Paul McCartney at Hyde Park. Which is definitely a lifelong dream and something I can tick off my bucket list. I was wonderful, it reminded me of my childhood spent listening to my parents Beatles CD's and the hopes and inspirations their music used to give me. I guess seeing Paul McCartney rejuvinated me and reminded me of who I'd wanted to grow up to be as an adult. It inspired me to turn my life around.
With that in mind I returned home, absolutely on cloud nine unable to listen to anything but The Beatles and determined to FINALLY make a decision of what I wanted to do with my life career wise. I've decided that I want to become a social worker working with adults and the elderly. I have to do a two year postgraduate course to become qualified so to get onto the course I've started doing voluntary work with the elderly. I'm loving doing the voluntary work, it makes me feel so alive and excited to have a purpose. It also helps me to get through my mundane week in the office, knowing that I have a goal and eventually a job that I truely love to get to. Albiet in a few years time.
So having had my new laptop and internet connection for the last month, I've been so busy with voluntary work, whilst working full-time that my blog and twitter had to be put on the back burner. I'm guessing though as I'm not procrastinating as much as I used to and now that I have a goal and feel as if I'm really living my life again that I can be forgiven for that!?
The main event is having a flood, my bathroom tap was left on while I was at work and it flooded out my living room, destroying my laptop, tv and living room. Obviously, this took up a lot of my time and having no internet connection and no laptop is a big hurdle for blogging! The flood taught me a lot. I couldn't procrastinate with things like cleaning up a flood, dealing with the insurance company and keeping the rest of the house tidy. When it comes to housework I think I'm on the road to procrastinating recovery. It also taught me how unimportant possessions really are, when I discovered the damage to my house I realised within a couple of minutes that nothing was destroyed that couldn't be replaced. Amazingly this made me calm in the crisis. I like to think that it was my new outlook on life that made me feel so calm that day.
In May I spent an amazing weekend in London, I saw Paul McCartney at Hyde Park. Which is definitely a lifelong dream and something I can tick off my bucket list. I was wonderful, it reminded me of my childhood spent listening to my parents Beatles CD's and the hopes and inspirations their music used to give me. I guess seeing Paul McCartney rejuvinated me and reminded me of who I'd wanted to grow up to be as an adult. It inspired me to turn my life around.
With that in mind I returned home, absolutely on cloud nine unable to listen to anything but The Beatles and determined to FINALLY make a decision of what I wanted to do with my life career wise. I've decided that I want to become a social worker working with adults and the elderly. I have to do a two year postgraduate course to become qualified so to get onto the course I've started doing voluntary work with the elderly. I'm loving doing the voluntary work, it makes me feel so alive and excited to have a purpose. It also helps me to get through my mundane week in the office, knowing that I have a goal and eventually a job that I truely love to get to. Albiet in a few years time.
So having had my new laptop and internet connection for the last month, I've been so busy with voluntary work, whilst working full-time that my blog and twitter had to be put on the back burner. I'm guessing though as I'm not procrastinating as much as I used to and now that I have a goal and feel as if I'm really living my life again that I can be forgiven for that!?
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