Putting on your best face

Getting through interviews is tough. Looking for jobs is draining to begin with. The internet is awash with millions of them, and a lot of job descriptions are nearly identical, so sifting out the good from the bad is a job in itself.

In the last few weeks I have been to 7 interviews. This is sort of good. When I was younger, with fewer qualifications and less experience, job interviews were very hard to come by. I could apply for ten jobs and hear nothing, and that was not unusual within my peer group. However, interviews are so massively draining!

By the time I was up to interview 5, I really had to fight the urge just to take to my bed in the afternoon and stay there until the next day. On top of that, I came down with a cold. I had to rely on juices and disgusting sachets of lemsip to keep me going.

This morning was interview number 7. I was tired, but I was prepared. I had thought about cancelling and rescheduling for when I felt better, but I decided not to. Sickness is a part of life, and so I turned up, explained I might cough a bit, and carried on, with my bright, shiny face (in that blotchy way that only a cold produces) and red nose.

This afternoon, I found out that I got that job. I probably would have still gotten it if I had cancelled and seen them next week instead, but I might not have. Another candidate might have come along. Life might have thrown in some other curve ball. 

Putting on your best face can be tough, but it's also an opportunity to rise to the challenge. This time, I won.

What I really, really need.

Some of you may been aware that I have put on a bit of weight since dealing with my severe endometriosis. I've mentioned it a few times...ok maybe more than a few.  It's just not on really. As a bonus for being really, cripplingly ill, I also get the bonus prize that only a quarter of my clothes (the baggy stuff that's now the tight stuff) still fit me.

Today I went to my first exercise class in about eight months. I spent five whole minutes squeezing into my zip-up sports vest, straining to hold the zip together so that I could get it closed. I put on a pair of shorts so tight I felt like I was being sliced up the arse crack.

Still, I made it through the class, which was a great achievement.

And then I got home, and had to get the vest off again. Which brings me to the title of this post. What I really, really need, is someone to call specifically for zip related help.

Just last year, I got stuck in a dress. I actually had to cut it off in order to escape, and it was a harrowing experience. I was not too fat, it was the dress that was wrong. If there had been a handy clothes-escaper to call, that dress would have been saved.

And so, I ask all you entrepreneurs out there. Start a service. Put out some dedicated people who will be there when someone is stuck in a dress, or a piece of ill-advised sports-wear. Do it for all the clothes that people have to cut themselves out of, and for all of us that have nearly dislocated a shoulder in our struggle to be free.

It's the right thing to do.

No one likes a whiner

When you've been ill for a long time, or you have a condition from birth, you really have to be careful who you talk to about it. 

Let's say your back hurts, because you pulled a muscle. The first couple of days, you can get a lot of sympathy for that. If it still hurts a week later, you'll probably find people are getting tired of hearing about it. A month later, you better be cured or dead, because no one wants to listen to that any more. You're still in pain, and it's affecting you, but they are not in pain, and they can't really relate to you. They've run out of sympathy, suggestions, and are starting to think that you're just making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Luckily, there are other places to go to for support. If you keep dipping in to that same well of friends, you're just not going to get the responses that you need, and you'll end up angry, and they'll be annoyed.

If you check around for a local support group, chances are you'll find something, even if not exactly specific to your needs. My favourite place though is this:

Chronic Illness Support for All

I am not a big fan of the internet. I think it lends itself to people being crappy to each other, but groups like the above are a great reminder that people are also there for each other, and there to support complete strangers. That's something pretty cool, and for some, it's a real life saver.

The truth is, you're not whining. You have a right to complain, to be sad, to be angry. You just need to find the right people to help you back up.