Well, this week’s a bit of a strange one. That’s because (barring holidays and illnesses), this is the first week in six years that I haven’t been working or volunteering at the Museum of English Rural Life.
No more staff entrance for me – I’ve handed in my notice, handed in my key, and to be honest, it all still feels very strange indeed.
I’ve written about my various roles at the museum on a number of occasions, and I’ve really, really enjoyed spending my time there over the past six years.
(This little upside-down piece of glass is one of my favourite parts of the Waterhouse-designed building.)
So why leave?
Well, one reason is that the fibromyalgia’s been getting on top of me. It’s been mostly stable, but not improving, and having a job that was mainly sitting down, particularly in a cold environment, wasn’t really doing me any favours. I was spending more time recovering from the work than I was actually doing the work, and that seemed silly.
Another is that my job-share colleague decided to take the plunge and leave the museum to start a course in clinical aromatherapy. This made me think about the massage qualification which I completed in 2006, and then wasn’t well enough to follow up. I’m doing my two distance learning courses in Aromatherapy and Herbalism (albeit very slowly), but perhaps there was more I could be doing.
A couple of weeks later I spotted an advert from the local Physiotherapy clinic, asking for help over the summer. I spent a day doing a voluntary session there, just watching what was required, and chatting to everybody who came in for treatment. By the end of the day I was very tired from having been standing up and dashing around for hours, but I didn’t have that terrible grey fibromyalgia exhaustion which leaves you unable to do anything, yet simultaneously unable to sleep.
About an hour after I got home I received a phone call asking me to go in the following morning for a bit of a chat, at which point I was offered the job of Physio Assistant. Hopefully not just because they’d already got a badge in the drawer with my name on it!
A hard weekend of thinking followed, and a decision was made. The clinic is a five minute walk from my house, so no more commute, and I save around £35 a month on bus fares. The hours are about the same, the money’s about the same, the job makes direct use of a qualification I worked hard for and would like to expand upon, and there is room for expansion into other roles at the clinic in the future.
Decision made.
I love the museum, and have made a lot of good friends during my time there, and I know I’m going to miss it terribly. But I think this change will be good for my health, and I have to put that first.
As a result, the past few weeks have been full of training (turns out treating people with lasers isn’t anything like as exciting as James Bond made it out to be), as well as working my first few Physio Assistant shifts, and working my notice at the museum. It’s been hectic, but I think it’s going to be okay.
The only down side of the new role?
After all these years of eradicating all traces of synthetic fibres from my wardrobe, and insisting on natural fabrics and organic cottons… this is the label from my new uniform!
Still. I can wear my Monkee Genes dark blue chinos with it, and comfy trainers… and no more worrying about Smart-Casual. From now on, when I’m not at work, I can wear anything I like!