current mental health status: good

I’ve been looking back through my recent posts, over the last week or so, and I’ve noticed that not one of them contains any depression-linked content.  Interesting.  Coincidentally, (or not so much, perhaps) I’ve been on leave for the last week.  There’s got to be a link in there somewhere.

Also, I’ve been much more mentally active than I usually am.  When I’m working, I get home from a day in the office and collapse into my chair, open my laptop and spend the evening mindlessly browsing the net.  There’s very little brain activity.  It’s almost like I get home and the brain says, ‘Great! Downtime!’  This extends to pretty basic stuff, like writing cheques out and doing basic housework.  There’s no planning ahead either.  Who has the energy for that?!

On the other hand, this last week or so, I’ve been getting up to date on bill paying and general organisational stuff.  I’ve done a heap of things, including managing a seamless transition from a current tenant to new tenants, with only two days’ vacancy, and at very short notice.  I’ve begun cleaning up this hovel we live in.  I’ve also started thinking ahead about things – what to do next in terms of investment, how long to wait before buying another property, what to do with the current ones (including our home), etc, etc.  It’s almost like, when I’m not working, I have the mental space to take care of these kinds of things.  This worries me.  I hate to think that I can either a) work or b) function well in other parts of my life, but not do both at once.

So what is it that’s giving me the ability to do all this stuff?  It’s not as simple as saying, ‘well, you’re not at work, so you have more time’.  This is undeniably partly true.  However, it’s just not that simple.  For example, I’ve been able to have a nap every day.  This has made a huge difference, not only in my ability to do things, but also in my mood.  I’ve not felt overwhelmed or hopeless or dispairing once.  I see the tasks that need to be done, but instead of feeling like I just can’t do them, I have a feeling of quiet confidence that I will get them done.  This is how I used to feel all the time, prior to becoming depressed.  Plus, I’ve been more happy generally.

Anyhow, this is an incredibly boring and introspective post, but I wanted to get it down for comparative purposes and future reference.  Turns out that when I’m not working, I feel great.  Now I just need to win Lotto to be able to maintain my mental health.

nice girl, but about as sharp as a sack of wet mice

You’d think I’d learn.  But apparently, this is not the case.

Now that our final reno is nearly completed, my mind has been wandering.  Well, that’s no different to normal, but it’s been wandering towards – yep, you guessed it! – what we could do to upgrade our home.  This would serve two purposes.  The first is that the gap between our dreams and the reality would be narrowed.  The second is that it would increase the property’s market value, and therefore our equity.  This would mean we could buy another property, but that’s an idea for another post.

Anyhow, in no particular order, the ‘upgrades’ list I have so far is as follows:

• redo tiling (with what, I’m not quite sure, but the current tiles were laid by a blind man…. not that I have anything against blind men, just when they do the tiling in my house);
• redo the bathrooms;
• replace all lights, inside and out;
• redo the kitchen;
• increase the storage space, both in the linen closet, and generally (use the ceiling cavity, maybe?)
• new shed with peaked roofline and window (SO’s wish);
• close in the carport;
• replace the back and front glass sliding doors with French doors;
• install solar hot water panels.

I have no doubt that more ideas will spring to mind, but that’s a decent start, don’t you think?  Now I need to discuss further with SO, so we can decide 1) the order of priority, and 2) costings.

I do love a project, I must admit.  SO, on the other hand, has retreated in fear to the study.  Poor darling.