I went back to work after my ankle injury. Although statuatory sick pay was decent, it wasn’t enough to pay the rent and the landlord wasn’t prepared to take any payments from the social welfare as there was something she would have to do first. I had got a bit behind but I also did voluntary skin patch studies in Edinburgh for some extra cash, so that helped a bit for a while it was a bit more difficult getting into Edinburgh for work but it was worth it to live in a nice coastal town. I had to take 2 buses sometimes and I could be slightly late but I would always apologise. I was sometimes called into the offices to do with timekeeping and cancelling some shifts at times but I still got regular work, dividing my time between the mental health wards and learning disability, where I did checks and sometimes went out with them to shops or something or just supervised mealtimes. I wasn’t responsible for any medications or anything but sometimes did things like writing notes on patients in certain wards such as the brain injury unit.
My sister’s wedding was coming up. I wasn’t a bridesmaid this time but it was still something to look forward to. Her hen weekend was arranged for Aviemore, where I only knew from school camps but I travelled through there with her and a couple of her friends. My mum and one of my aunties were there so it balanced things out a bit. It was quite a mad weekend but I did a walk around one of the lochs towards the end which I felt good about as my ankle was still a bit weak, although I made them order a taxi when we got back to the main street. It was a bit further than I had expected. Her wedding was a few weeks later in South Queensferry. It was a nice couple of days and I stayed in a small b&b for a couple of nights. By this point my 30th birthday was coming up. I felt something about being 30 and wanted to have a little bit of a celebration. I don’t remember who suggested it first but I ended up having a party at the local hotel/restaurant. My sister arranged some of the decorations and things. It wasn’t a big thing, just family and a few friends turned up but it was a good night. There was someone from school who I had been talking to online, who my cousin tried fixing me up with but it was all just a bit embarrassing. I went to a club with him but I didn’t feel we had anything in common or much to talk about. I knew why I was just annoyed at myself for entertaining it. I had started a numeracy qualification at the local college and had made friends with a couple of girls there. The class itself wasn’t going well as I knew it probably wouldn’t. I had had problems my whole life with adding and subtracting and the way it was supposed to be done,so I didn’t see how it would be any different but I tried it out anyway. One of the girls I mets mum worked in one of the wards I worked in, so there was connections there. I sometimes just looked forward to going in as we would just sit about the canteen quite a bit and talk. I must have done enough to get onto the Access to Nursing course at the local college as I started it. I met a few people there too but there was a lot of them I didn’t quite trust. I felt there were reasons they were there and as time went on I realized it wasn’t for me. There were too many things I didn’t feel like I could do such as medications. I liked the biology part of it as there were some interesting classes but I wasn’t sure it was what I thought it was so decided to quit. I also had a problem with going backwards into an access course when I had already done a degree and was bothered that I never got onto a children’s nursing course but they didn’t mind me working with adults. As if they didn’t matter! So I was back to just working for the nurse bank. I felt like I had worked for them forever! One of my friends I met while doing highers at college suggested going on holiday. Her and her boyfriend were planning a holiday to marmaris. We usually just met in the grass market in Edinburgh to go to Irish bars, which we both enjoyed for the live music, so a holiday would be something different. I had to renew my passport but I had something to look forward to.
Living with Neurodivergence 