To work or not to work - a complicated question

A fellow minister elsewhere in the country has written about her experience of returning to work after depression and the challenge of 'Are you better now?' greetings

Sally's Journey

That is part of the package of having time 'on the sick' when you are in a community role, it is noticed when you are not upfront as expected on Sunday - and so lots of sincere but unhelpful greetings as Sally explains.

Edit to add link - other thoughts on those tricky how are you conversations from Suddenly Bipolar

This is a funny type of role being a church minister, lots of things we do is out of sight then the rest is the opposite - right up where they can all see.  It makes work or not when unwell a complicated question.  A day under the duvet with the snuffles can be made up if things just need to be done, and some times of the year are more hectic than others which have more breathing spaces.

I have been crashed low since the start of November, to the very bottom - I have had weeks of officially being in work but doing the minimum for what has to be now and has to be me;  now I have a few weeks officially on a sick note - but the psychiatrist thinks good for me to be doing bits of work.

So from in work but barely; to off work but dabbling - it may look similar but the difference is that now I have no pressure of deadlines or fixed times to pull it out of the hat and fronting up to the world on a day I'm a mess.  On the other hand it is 'out there', public knowledge, so cue reactions as my colleague Sally discussed in her blog.

It is a tricky choice at times - to be officially in work or officially not - but I am grateful to be in a role that allows me the flexibility within either.   For many people mental illness and work is much more complicated - push on till collapse under the weight, then returning afterwards can be hard to gently edge back in.  Not to mention the stigma about the cause of the absence.

All reasons to challenge the stigma, educate that it isn't a sudden fix if back in action, but that will have to wait for one of those getting up days, and gently does it.