Hi, I hope you are all as well as possible. I really want to come off ESA and get a job. Does anyone know if there is any support to do this? Just want to have a normal life and not feel like a fat useless lump anymore. love Bex xxx
hi bex
will you be using the job centre?
perhaps they could advise.
good luck
carole x
Don’t know. Don’t really know where to start. Been looking for jobs. Had an interview today, but it went really badly. Am a bit worried about going through the job centre, as they will make me apply for jobs that are not suitable and I don’t want xxx
Don’t we all? It’s all about the art of the possible though, isn’t it? What we really want (what I really want anyway) is to not have MS, but that option isn’t available. So we search for things that are a proxy for not having MS, and having a proper job like a normal person can suggest itself as one of them. But it isn’t a very good proxy really. There is lots that is good about productive endeavour, I couldn’t agree more. But paid work is not the only way to participate in that. All I would suggest is that you ask yourself what it is - very specifically - that you are hoping that a job will bring you. If you are well enough, then great. But if you aren’t well enough, do be careful not to let yourself think that having a job is the only path to a rewarding and fulfilling life.
Alison
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Be careful coming off ESA are you in the support group,if so ,please think very carefully.i totally agree with what Alison has said to you.
J x
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Have you thought about volunteer work? you could start off a few hours work a week maybe. There are loads of volunteer jobs on this site. Gain skills in something new.
I just remembered you have been volunteering.
Hi Bex, (folkksong), js remember the bad days, i totally understand ya thoughts! but that DX wasn’t given for fun!! it was a kick js as mine & everybody els’s was, we would all luv " get back 2 work BIG time & feel like i/we were contributing & feel like we are human,
Js ask ya friends what they think, but only the 1s you trust!!
If you can do it, well power 2 ya go 4it, but don’t burn take it easy
good good luck, jujustay safe x…
alisons comments were eliquent & fine! unlike my spelling
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I am in the support group. But people judge you. I am usually quite an out going person and would love to meet new people, but can’t do that being on ESA, cos people judge you. I had a job interview yesterday, for the trainee version of my dream job, but I could tell they didn’t think I was capable of doing the job, but I just want them to give me a chance. Fed up of being told what I can and can’t do and not being allowed to try things for myself. I feel like a child! The worst thing was the person interviewing me, is one of my closest friends and I would really hate for this to spoil our friendship.
Also, the government will scrap all benefits soon, and then I will be homeless and starve, so need to get myself a job way before this happens.
I have been a volunteer for the national trust at Lanhydrock, for 11 years now, and I love it, but it just doesn’t feel like enough sometimes, and the thing is, with it being the national trust, everyone knows your a volunteer. I am 27 and have never had a job, and the older I get, the less likely I will get one. I haven’t acheived anything in my Life and I feel so disgusted and ashamed of my life. Sorry for moaning on about this, I just feel so utterly depressed and despondant at the moment, like I want my life to end, if things don’t drastically change soon xxx
I doubt the govt will scrap all benefits.
poll
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if you come off the esa support group, and find working too hard, you may have difficulty getting back what you had.
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If a miraculous return to lasting good health isn’t an option, I think your next priority should be growing a rhinoceros-like thickness of skin. I know you’re fed up with me saying that, so must ask yor pardon for saying it again anyway!
You seem to be struggling under the burden of other people’s ill-informed expectations and I am sorry that it is so disheartening and difficult for you. There will always be thoughtless and unpleasant people, and you know how much their unkindness can hurt and of course you want to protect yourself. But you aren’t going to do that by trying to dance to their tune when you just aren’t able.
When a person is feeling a bit fragile and vulnerable, it is going to be particularly tough to rise above unkindness and the fear of unkindness. But rising above it is, nevertheless, surely the thing to aim for. Just don’t let the bastards grind you down.
Alison
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I know. But I will just have to keeping pushing myself. I can’t bare to live like this anymore. Things need to change xxx
Its such a breath of fresh air to see someone try and get back into work. I work and its so difficult some days, I “hit the wall” but just push myself through it.
I firmly believe if I didn’t push myself to work and slowed down I’d be on the slippery slope to early retirement.
best wishes whatever you decide x
Thanks. I know I want to get into work, I just don’t know where to start xxx