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Old 22-01-2010, 07:17 PM   #86
Stellata
 
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: London area

I agree, although they won't always say/do anything. I know my parents were like that when I was younger.

Another thing I need to add is that as I was growing up I was strongly and firmly taught to 'carry on regardless'. So I only ever had one day off sick in the whole of my secondary education, despite the hell it was for me at school. So I carried on teaching even when I was clearly ill, as well as failing. So, even now, I go into work on days I should really be at home, when I'm really feeling too vulnerable and volatile to face the public. And even those few occasions when I've actually been physically sick with a bug, I've only had minimal time off work to recover.
I am learning to take better care of myself, but it's a long journey, as the 'struggle on even when you feel you're dying' is so deeply embedded in me. Maybe it's my parents' generation - born just before and at the beginning of the 2nd world war. Maybe it's how you survive in a dysfunctional family where domestic violence was rife. Maybe it was the 80s Thatcher work ethic. [My father being a staunch Conservative.]
I know it might sound like an excuse to some, but it's a contributing factor I feel is important.
I know it has both a positive as well as an unhealthy side, the 'keep calm and carry on', 'carry on regardless' thing.

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