Social Anxiety Forums

PHD86 · Posted: Fri May 04, 2007 Post subject: Time factor

Having previously spoken about this in the "Newbie Poster" thread which I started - I decided that this particular quandry of mine perhaps deserved a topic of his own.

Having spent 3 years so far, out of work/education - I feel like this time factor is something which I will never get rid of and that's like a permanent black mark on my life. I have nothing to show for the last 3 years that can be put down on paper and it's not like I can talk freely about it either.

The thing about this country is that we have some sort of pride in the fact that we have some sort of title that when we are asked the question "What do you do?" then we have an answer for it like 'student', 'admin assistant' or 'housewife' amongst a million other examples.

I guess that's how I envisaged my life - it would read Primary school followed by Secondary School student, then University, then an entry position with an Accounts firm while studying ACCA, with jobs following on one from another. But it's not like that - I have a hole in my life which has past and keeps going on and can't really be accounted for.

I just wondered if anybody had had what I would call a long-term period out of work and how they dealt with all the issues that come with that period and that period alone. Obviously this is a more generalised question as it would apply to anyone who has spent a long time out with anything from schizophrenia to depression.