Hi All
I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced my situation and I'd be interested to hear how others have coped.
I gave up work two years ago when my mum was diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer's. At the time I was working full time and had been doing so for over thirty years. When my mum was diagnosed I was advised by the Psychiatrist that I needed to monitor her closely especially around meal times. I was struggling to work full time especially as I had a very unsupportive manager who made my life hell and so after thinking long and hard about it, I decided to give up to care full time. Over the last two years my mum has changed and is getting worse but it's a very slow change. No doubt she will deteriorate as time goes on and will need more and more help but it's developing a lot slower than I was led to believe.
I've been thinking recently about returning to work on a very part time basis, as I'd still like my caring role to be my main focus and I want to keep my carer's allowance but I've found my confidence has taken a real knock during this time. It's really hard to find a few hours a week but I have managed to secure two interviews recently but I've withdrawn my application at the last minute as I've basically 'chickened' out. That sounds awful at 52 years of age but it's partly because I feel like I've lost touch with the working world, partly because I dread being chained to a desk again and partly because I'm fearful that as soon as I'm in to a new job, my mum will take a nose dive and I'll be thrown in to a crisis again.
Has anyone been through this? How did you build your confidence back up? Has anyone gone through a career change that's made life a lot easier, any ideas on very part time work? I can earn £110 a week I believe when claiming carer's allowance.
Any advice? Please help, I'm starting to feel very useless xx
I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced my situation and I'd be interested to hear how others have coped.
I gave up work two years ago when my mum was diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer's. At the time I was working full time and had been doing so for over thirty years. When my mum was diagnosed I was advised by the Psychiatrist that I needed to monitor her closely especially around meal times. I was struggling to work full time especially as I had a very unsupportive manager who made my life hell and so after thinking long and hard about it, I decided to give up to care full time. Over the last two years my mum has changed and is getting worse but it's a very slow change. No doubt she will deteriorate as time goes on and will need more and more help but it's developing a lot slower than I was led to believe.
I've been thinking recently about returning to work on a very part time basis, as I'd still like my caring role to be my main focus and I want to keep my carer's allowance but I've found my confidence has taken a real knock during this time. It's really hard to find a few hours a week but I have managed to secure two interviews recently but I've withdrawn my application at the last minute as I've basically 'chickened' out. That sounds awful at 52 years of age but it's partly because I feel like I've lost touch with the working world, partly because I dread being chained to a desk again and partly because I'm fearful that as soon as I'm in to a new job, my mum will take a nose dive and I'll be thrown in to a crisis again.
Has anyone been through this? How did you build your confidence back up? Has anyone gone through a career change that's made life a lot easier, any ideas on very part time work? I can earn £110 a week I believe when claiming carer's allowance.
Any advice? Please help, I'm starting to feel very useless xx