Doing Nothing

Greetings,

Why is it that as soon as you tell people you are on a Disability Pension, they assume that you sit around doing nothing for the day? Or they start asking questions why and start judging you? In response the first for my particular case, I will present the following post. For the second, I will simply state that several medical professionals and government officials agreed that it would be pointless for me to find work and that it was appropriate that I be placed on the pension. Unless you know my medical history and also have the requisite training of both sets of professionals, you can keep your opinions to yourself (apologies for the small rant). Now on to the important stuff.

Assumptions

In my particular case I do not sit in front of the television or computer playing games or watching videos all day. I feel I have more important things to do with my life. Sure there are days when I do these activities but there is a reason for this and it is the reason that I am on a Disability Pension. However, aside from the things that we all have to do each day, I do keep myself rather occupied. How?

Blogs

Including this one I have two other blogs which I work on in order to facilitate the spread of information on various subjects. Aside from this one which is my more personal one and has a general focus on fibromyalgia and what I do to deal with this particular condition, there are two others.

One is focused on the exploration of the English language, or to be more precise Elizabethan English it can be found here: http://oldewordes.blogspot.com.au/ This is not required research nor was it required in any other way I decided that it was a subject that I was interested in, so I started to research it. I started this particular investigation in to the language so that at some point in time I would be able to better understand it and even possibly, produce it. How did I become interested in it? Well, that leads on to my third and most popular blog.

The other blog, and my most popular one having: 19,000+ hits, 78 posts and 22 followers who have registered, is about fencing. It is also the blog which I have been writing the longest. It is about fencing, as in swordplay, not methods of keeping properties marked. For the most part I focus on general topics and issues with regard to the subject, but it does tend to reveal my greatest joy which is the research and participation in Western Martial Arts. This reveals something else that I do in order to improve myself, and maintain fitness.

Fencing

So, hopefully I will not have to explain what sort of fencing that I am talking about here as I already have above. If not, go back and read it as I am not explaining it again. Anyway, fencing was something I got into before I was diagnosed and before I started having all of my medical issues which have led me to be on the the Disability Support Pension. I started with foil during my first sojourn to university life and decided that I liked it... a lot.

When I found out that the medieval and recreation group, the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) did a form of fencing which was historically based, well I was set. I got to combine a physical activity which I was doing in with research into the history of it. Fencing nut plus history nut, throw that in and I did not look back. For the most part at the beginning I was doing it all for myself, this was to change.

Best way to find people to play with is to train them yourself, so I started training people. I was learning new techniques from manuals and all sorts of sources along the way as well. What can I say, but about 15 years later I suspect that I have had in excess of 30, possibly even more, students. There are still more. In fact much of my time is actually spent researching things to teach them so that they improve. Thus along with the blogs, you throw in two or three nights a week of training, and my "wasteful time" gets smaller and smaller I can tell you.

Research 

Research is something I do, and I do to keep my wits about me and so I can keep learning things. Best way to stop a brain from stagnating is to research, and this is something that I do. Sure I have mentioned my blogs and the research which is involved with them, and sure, they do take up the highest percentage of what I research, but there are always other subjects which will catch my eye.

Occasionally I will get interested due to a film, documentary or something I have read. Crazily enough, one of my lots of research was actually a result of watching my wife play a game, which was historically based. Some of the subjects are not "academically sound" for sure, but research is research. You find something you are interested in and you find more and more stuff about it. Sometimes there is no "final end result", but when you are doing it for yourself there is no problem here at all.

Conclusion

To say that I spend most of my time doing nothing is, quite frankly, insulting. Sure I do not have a regular job like most people do, but it sure as hell does not mean that I am sitting at home doing nothing. I can tell you that is the complete opposite of what I am doing most of the time. I have blogs, I have fencing and I have research to keep me occupied. Sure I do spend some time in front of the television playing games or watching movies, but I ask this "Who doesn't?" No one works all of the time.

Sure what I do is not paid and does not fill the usual work hours, but I think that what I do fills a function. I can tell you that there would be a lot of people who would notice its absence. In fact there are. I have been told so. Indeed if I decided that I should start being completely ruthless with my time and how much it is worth I would have a lot less students than I do now, and a lot less friends too.

Before you make an assumption about what a person does or does not do and about how they do  or do not spend their time, think. Decide whether you would like the same assumption made about you. If not, don't do it. Find out what they really do, you never know you might find something and someone interesting and worthwhile.

Cheers,

Henry.