The Career Break Saga (Part 1)

Entirely unrelated picture I took yesterday.

This is the first part of a true, and current story, I hope will help you to decide whether what you're doing is making you happy, or if something needs to change... Or at least make my struggles into spectacle!

So, I’m jumping out of the frying pan (a blue one, which represents the NHS) and, although I can’t tell quite yet, I’m hoping I’ve been cooking on one of those induction hobs that won’t hurt when I land on it. Maybe I’ll just scorch my toes a little before I escape via a triple somersault and superhero landing... careful of the knees though, they’re over thirty and getting creakier by the second.

The story so far...

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (The West Midlands) there was a sentient humanoid by the name of Jethro (that’s me), who wasn’t named after Jethro Tull, or Jethro the comedian, or the one from the Bible, or even that one from NCIS who keeps everyone in order when investigating sailor crimes, or whatever. This one was named that way probably as a result of too many narcotic substances in his parents’ systems at the time they had to come up with it... or the 80’s had become the 90’s and they felt I should take some responsibility for it.

Anyway, what I mean to say is, I grew up (to a mammoth 5’ 7”) got the degree I went for and blossomed into a well-cultivated physiotherapist. I currently manage a small team of therapists and assistants, all working in neurology (that’s strokes and brain injuries and such).

As you’ve heard time and time again, it has been a hard couple of years, but even before all this I was thinking I needed to do something a bit more creative and freeing than the daily grind of NHS work. I want to grind other things for a while. I’m tired of my grinding being dictated.

I’ve been dabbling in the writing world, but not getting anywhere particularly promising, and I have a few hobbies to keep me sane(ish), including the occasional day working as an extra on TV/Film. The latter gave me a bit of hope that there’s more to life than what I’ve been doing so far. I’ve worked up to this level, it’s not like I’ll drop considerably if I do something different for a bit, but I’ll definitely lose my head if I carry on as I am.

The (sort of, but not really) Trigger...

 As well as the deterioration of my general enthusiasm, somewhere within the thick mist of corona, I was given some bad news. My sight is deteriorating at a rate very unusual for someone of my age which, now I think about it, may have been the cause of the mist, rather than corona. I’ve had a few investigations and some measurements taken, but all I can really take from it is that no one really knows what to think.

‘It should stop getting worse at some point.’ Is the general consensus, but where between what I can see now and complete blindness, there’s no answer for. All I know is the worse it gets the more likely I am to suffer from a plethora of other eye-related issues. I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice to say, it’s changed my outlook somewhat (pun somewhat intended).

And then...

Work hasn’t got any more fun since I found out about the eyes. If anything it’s driving me further into madness (I’m being dramatic) and I don’t want to end up counting down the days until I retire, blind or otherwise.

So I plan and, for a change, I actually do as well.

I have instigated the process of having a career break. This is due to last for six months, hopefully long enough to figure out if it’s worth it, if it helps my mental state, and I if can survive financially. I am in the unusual, and very lucky position, to be able to secure my current job (though I will be giving up my temporary managerial post) at the end of this break. I know this is not an option for most. The sacrifice I’ll be making is a small one – though I do still have a mortgage to pay.

I have made a financial plan of my outgoings and my minimum income in order to survive. Of course I will be aiming to earn enough to enjoy myself outside of work as well, otherwise what’s the point of this whole debacle?! I’ve also made sure I have a few pennies in the bank in case everything goes wrong.

I have signed up to, or started to sign up to, a number of extras agencies and commercial (advertising) model agencies. These take all kinds of people by the way, I’m a far-cry from a catwalk model and I know it! Though I will consider being paid to wear clothes... much more likely to happen than being paid to take them off!

Excel sheets created (bleurgh!).

I hope that the different agencies, based in different parts of the country, will give me enough work to pay my way and a bit of pocket money to boot... never get this “to boot” phrase. I just wanted to use it once to see if it felt right, but it definitely doesn’t. I’ll leave it in, but please ignore it until I decide.

Last thing to mention is – have a back-up option. Again, I know I will be in the minority here with this, but I do have another potential fallback. I will sign up to the bank (ad-hoc) section of my NHS trust, which means if I get into significant trouble, I can pick up an extra shift here or there when they become available. I also have the option of picking up a bit of private work or working as a locum for a time. Though again, this would be against the point of this whole thing. The idea is to have a complete break, not a bus driver’s holiday (is this just a British saying).

And one other last, last thing to mention – as this is a writing blog after all – is that part of my plan is to have more writing time. If any of you reading have been involved in TV / Film work, you’ll know that there is a lot of waiting around. With a laptop and a head full of ideas... this can be prime creativity time.

Maybe I’ll write my way into the big leagues. It could happen. It could. It.

The end bit...

And that’s the end of the start of my journey. I’m clinging onto the edge of the frying pan, feet dangling down towards the flames (or the induction rings) of damnation (or salvation) and I know exactly what you’re thinking. Is this a really big frying pan, or am I a tiny person in this analogy? Does it matter? Yes, it does. It’s a massive frying pan, a gigantic, novelty one you might find in a BFG theme park, or some kind of Alice in Wonderland fever dream.

All I hope is that some of you join me out here. It’s terrifying and I could use the company.

If you love your job and it’s all you ever want to do... amazing, I wish I could be like that!

If, like me, you need a break before you break yourself. There are options. There are always options. You just need to figure out how uncomfortable you’re willing to be while you find them. For me, the risk is low, and even so, it's a bloody scary thing to do!

I sincerely intend for this blog entry to be the first of a series that gets progressively more hopeful. If it is, I hope you’ll keep an eye on me and how it’s going. If not, well, I still hope you do... or at the very least, buy my book!