Posted by alexandra_k on September 17, 2016, at 17:50:18
In reply to Re: What are you doing?, posted by Clearskies on September 16, 2016, at 22:52:40
:)
Actually 4/234 overall, oops.
Much happier. Relieved to discover that the things I was upset about... Getting away from them really has made a significant difference. I was worried, before, that I was just an endless stream of excuses, really. Turns out that I was right about what I needed, though. Surprise. It is hard to not have the money to fund what you know to be good.
It is hard to live with only enough to get you from week to week...
I suppose I've seen over the last few years how most of the people who only have enough to get them from week to week (people on government benefits) spend most of that on junk food and alcohol. And it is hard (dehumanising, even) that they don't have money for other things... But then it is also hard that if you give them money that they then could spend on other things then will likely spend that money on more expensive junk food and alcohol.
It is also hard, though, that when you are used to living from week to week... Then when you do get some kind of small bonus or windfall then you are likely to blow it on something... Silly.
It takes time to adapt. I'm remembering when my friends got their first government jobs... How they would manage to get through their entire salary on rubbish for the first few weeks... Then they would transition to things like building up their wardrobes... Then they start thinking about overseas holidays or cars... Then they start thinking about longer term investments.
It takes a certain amount of excess... For it to seem worth saving / thinking longer term. And it takes a certain amount of time for that excess to sink in. For you to process options.
Anyway... I have a bit more here than what I'm used to. Not a lot... But enough for me to be in the position to think that if I save for a few weeks then I could get this or that thing (that will last me a few years). Which helps me feel... Decidedly more human. It really is not a lot. It isn't as much as I had on PhD scholarship... But it is more than I am used to having. And it is nice to not have to worry about running out of food at the end of the week (like I had when I was in Wellington) or about my clothes literally deteriorating off my body (like I had when I was in Auckland). So...
There is a weird thing here about... Uniforms. That's what it feels like. It isn't about money... It is about choices that you make with the money that you get.. Maybe it is about shorter term vs longer term... But they really do have this thing about the decision to dress professionally or not. Not expensively. Not like TV professional image... But, like, the decision to dress conservatively in subdued tones... Without visible branding etc... Versus other choices that one might make. It is nice to be amongst 'real people' and not amongst the billboards selling rubbish to alcohol damaged teenagers in the city...
I need to see if I can find a doctor who isn't using foreign 'health clinic start-up software' to manage their clinic... And / or storing all the patient information on a foreign server. I'm not sure that is possible anymore...
Priceless.
poster:alexandra_k
thread:1092168
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20160906/msgs/1092218.html