A week in the life…

There’s been no structure to my (week)days for a little while now, and I’ve been uncomfortable about this. Partly down to a newly found pleasure in routine and order, partly that I’m missing working.

Since adopting the mindset of treating job hunting like a full time job, my brain feels it’s cheating if I do anything else, except the job hunting hasn’t been quite full time enough. Other than minor complaints to vent about, there’s been little about the process to write home about; it’s fallen into a dull pattern, one which I see described as their experience by those from all walks of life and all stages in their career.

I’ve been finding Monday mornings especially bad, and wondered if avoiding them might help with my mood, so decided to book myself a manicure and pedicure on alternating weeks. But, would you Adam and Eve it (that’s some cockney rhyming slang for you Mark 😀 ), one local emporium is closed on Mondays, and the other is fully booked on Mondays for weeks in advance🙄

Then it happened… I spotted a role which was entirely outside of my business experience yet perfectly suits my personal experience and interests. I wrote an open & honest covering letter, was interviewed and offered the job with positively dizzying speed. Even better, it ticks all my boxes – a working from home role, I can flexibly work the hours & days which suit me, the pay is good, and it’s in an industry where I can genuinely make a difference. Yes, it’s that🦄

While doing some training in advance of going live with the new job, I’ve been feeling happily freed from my bullying mindset to turn my hand back to some of the other things on my to do list – like selecting a book club and finding a writing group, and fitting in a bit more decluttering of my office which, as ever, has rapidly turned into the general dumping ground. There’s also the rationalisation of computer equipment to be undertaken – I have two desktops, have recently added a new laptop of my own, and that count has now been inflated by the arrival of a new work laptop – plus the inevitable re-organisation of files, both online and paper.

I got this far in writing this post when something which had been going on in the background for some months, forced its way into the foreground.

After decades of not looking or feeling her age, time has been catching up with my mother. Following her relocation to the US a few years back, aches and pains started to arrive and, after a full health check earlier this year, she told her doctor she was not just ready, but actively wanting to shuffle off this mortal coil. Except, with nothing medically wrong, it’s been a long, slow slipping away. As soon as we were told, my youngest sister jumped on a plane to visit, only to find my mother spent most of every day asleep. So, with transatlantic trips having no purpose, us UK-based siblings have spent the past 3 months video calling in order to catch my mother’s increasingly shrinking waking moments. The end finally arrived last week, resulting in my erratic attention to this blog.

This not being the place I share such things, I’ll simply say the nature of our relationship means I cried my last tears over her some years ago so, am not stricken with grief as when my father died. But there are things to do, not least of all providing emotional support to those siblings who are struggling. As a result, I’ve decided to take an early summer break. I’ll doubtless dip in & out of reading and/or commenting on your blogs, and will be back writing again in the not too distant future.

Till then…

© Debs Carey, 2026