Hello lovely people...
Thanks @Former-Member for starting this thread. I think that the work we do is such an important part of our identity in this society. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, I leave to the philosophers and sociologists... hahaha...
I worked as an Electrical Engineer for over 20 years... it took a major breakdown in 2011 to realise that the work I was doing was not healthy for me. The stress and long hours were, at the time, something that I thrived on. Whenever there was more work to do, I was always the one putting my hand up, going "Ooooh, oooh, I'll do it!!!"
Now I know that this was my bipolar self, seeking ever more interesting and sparkly things to keep itself entertained and firing on all cylinders...
At the time, I didn't realise that it was unusual to be over-achieving for about 2 years solid, then fall into a 6-month depression of profound depth... to me, it was all that I had ever known in all my working and (prior to that) studying life. It took a major breakdown and a failed marriage in 2011 to wake me up to the fact that I needed help, and that my levels of operating were not normal, nor were they healthy.
You see, I thrived on stress and long hours. I thrived too much. It triggered my hypomania, and the highs just felt so damn amazing. Then I would eventually run out of go-go juice, and depression was the payback. It is so blatantly obvious to see, this harmful pattern, repeating again and again... fly too high, burn out, dive, slowly recover, and repeat...
After 2011, I finally sought professional help. A diagnosis of depression followed, and then a further diagnosis of bipolar followed that.
In the 6 years since my major breakdown, I have worked very very little. A few weeks each year was about the size of it. But if you consider work as being putting yourself back together again, then I have been working full time for quite a while... hahaha...
Now, for the first time in 6 years, I have managed to procure a 6 month work contract. It's taken me a long time to climb back onto the horse. Until now, I have not felt ready. Tentatively now, I do feel ready and able, and armed with the self knowledge needed to spot the early warning signs and manage my mental health accordingly.
So, now I venture back out into the working world. I am a technical writer these days. I take complicated technical information gathered from other people and from my own investigations, and I turn it into useful documentation. I write user manuals for people so that they know how to use a particular system or bit of software. I write maintenance manuals so people know how to keep the equipment in tip-top shape. I write design specifications so that engineers and programmers know how to build a system .
My life passion is writing. I would much rather make a living from my creative writing pursuits, but for now, I am a technical writer. It pays the bills, and between jobs I write what I truly love to write, and dream of times when people will buy my books and keep me employed in the creative writing sphere...
Managing my stress and my motivation to overwork... that is also my job... it is a full-time job at that... it keeps me very busy, maintaining my mental health...
