Well hello blog, remember me

Dear Blog

I'm sorry I have neglected you for months but I have been really busy.  Work continues to be a source of problems.  The site I work on is closing and the staff are leaving, well all be over by the end of August. 

In true Project Manager style I analysed the risks and decided that the major risk would be that the global Project Manager vision wouldn't work and our group would be next out of the door.  I did a quick gap analysis (get me with the worky buzz words) and realised my CV was missing an actual Project Management qualification.  Everything has been on the job training from one company.  So I decided that the way to go was to get an official qualification and show I know how the job should be done not just how the company I work for does it.

So I put myself in for an exam without doing the course, bought the books and spent the last few months revising in preparation.  I sat the exam recently and frightened myself because I found some of the questions very easy making me think I may have missed something.  One of the 10 questions I totally messed up but overall I think I will pass.  Fingers and toes crossed, results should arrive in the next few months.

My next step was to polish my very, very out of date CV.  When I say polish I mean start from scratch as it is 10 years since I updated it.  Finally completed a basic CV that can be easily customised for different jobs and all ready to start applying.

JUST IN TIME:

Last Wednesday we got the notification that plans have changed and our jobs are now at risk!  Spent the remainder of the week listening to the rest of the group saying they saw this coming and that now they need to start updating CVs etc.  Confused, if you saw it coming why have you done nothing?

Have 5 job opportunities to apply for, all of them have things that sound interesting and I know I can do them although all but one would be somewhat different from my current job.  CVs will be winging there way through electronic mail early next week.  Wish them luck if you have a spare moment!

On top of all my planning for this I have had to deal with work itself.  It has been horrible.  Without moaning too much I just need to say that the company has decided on really unrealistic timelines for closure and transfer.  So many things haven't been considered and it has been a nightmare recently.  As none of you know who they are I think it is reasonable for me to say that I am disgusted by their lack of customer focus and consideration.  They haven't treated staff well but we are costs so that's business but customers are your profits and future income, you'd think they would be trying to protect relationships.  Bitch over, not really my problem but when you have worked with clients for years it is hard not to care about them.

Away from work all is good, Mr Midnite has been very supportive and continues to infuse me with his positivity.  The furry girls are as usual wonderful and always ready with hugs and doggy licks when the day has been stressful!

Mental health wise the stress of work hasn't been a great help.  The situation is pushing my pharmaceutical support system to it's limits but I refuse to let it break me.  The doctor has let me have a few sleep tablets and the difference the occasional good nights sleep makes is unbelievable.  I have heard before that there is nothing you can't handle if you get a good nights sleep but now understand this. 

Knowing that I have been doing positive things to improve the situation as helped massively and I'm confident I'll find  nice new job soon.

Hoping my blog will forgive me for my extended absence and that I can get back to writing soon, I do miss it.

Lots of love
Mrs M

A swan kicked my butt

If you remember I decided to give yoga a try to help with my insomnia.  So last night I headed off to my first yoga class, this was a once a month workshop for Yin Yoga.  This is a different type of yoga with relatively easy poses held for much longer than normal.  I found all but one of the positions relatively easy although with my buzzing brain it is hard to stay still and not let my mind drift for 5 minutes.

After the class I felt quite energised but also calm.  I had a reasonably relaxed night and slept pretty well for a Sunday night after a weeks holiday.  This morning I do have a slight ache in my butt from the swan position or something like that.  You see where the blog title comes from now?

I start my beginners yoga course next weekend, it's Hatha Yoga so I think more main stream than this workshop but I have booked the next Yin class too. 

Here's hoping that all the positive benefits assigned to yoga are real.  I would like to think it can help me through the stress that I struggle with even though I am taking my tablets.

Fancy a yoga class?

Deep in the bosom of the gentle night
Is when I search for the light
Pick up my pen and start to write
I struggle, I fight dark forces in the clear moonlight
Without fear
Insomnia
I can't get no sleep

I'm currently suffering from really bad insomnia, it is driving me mental (well more mental than normal).  It's into the 4th week now and I just can't sleep.  I have had this before, it comes and goes and so far I haven't found a really good solution for it.  I've tried lots of different things over the years, milky drinks and bananas before bed, lavender sleep pillow, warm relaxing baths, set bed and get up times, cutting out caffeine, taking sleeping tablets, puppy cuddle therapy etc etc etc etc.

I used to do yoga during one of my exercise phases and I know it can help me relax so I was thinking of trying that to fight the insomnia.  Sunday night is my worst insomnia night, it's a close race but Sunday generally wins.  I suspect the cause is going back to work on Monday but as I don't actually lie awake thinking about work, no I lie awake wondering if I have dog food or if I should wear different shoes or composing blogs.  It's never anything obviously stressful, just keeps me awake.

So I googled "yoga Edinburgh Sunday" and found a few thousand places that do yoga classes.  Here's where it got confusing.  I used to go to my gym and do yoga, no problem.  Now there are hundreds of different types of yoga:

Hatha Yoga

Hatha Vinyasa Yoga
Ashtanga Yoga
Iyengar Yoga
Kundalini Yoga
Restorative Yoga
Yin Yoga
Yoga Nidra
Meditation
Pilates
Tai Chi

So which yoga class should I select to cure my insomnia?  Not a clue because I have no idea what the differences are, I'm a bit safer with the bottom 3 but they were not what I wanted.  If I was after a Tai Chi class I'd have googled Tai Chi. 

More research or should I just pick one with a cool name?