Living Independently Rebecca's Story |
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Many of you have helped in our recent survey on “Independent Living”. Here’s one story of how one of our members is coping…… I moved out from home a couple of months ago. I’d been thinking about it for a few months but couldn’t get my head round living on my own but then a friend suggested moving in with me and I decided to give it a go not at all sure how I’d cope. I was lucky that my Mum owns a house to rent out so I was able to move in and see how well I got on knowing I could move back home anytime and hadn’t had to take out a 6 month lease or pay a bond. I’m still getting some help from my mum, she either gets my shopping for me or takes me shopping with her as my 2 attempts to go myself I got a huge shock how few things produce very heavy shopping bags! I also still get some lifts from Mum when I’m not up to driving. It’s good to know she’s only 10-15mins away and can come round if ever I need her. I like to come back home for my tea sometimes as I still struggle to cook meals and usually live from micro-waved or convenience foods! As I’ve had anxiety with my ME I thought I would find it difficult to live on my own but I’ve actually surprised myself how quickly I’ve settled and how much I like it. It’s great feeling more independent and I’ve surprised myself at some of the things I actually can manage to do. As I’m sharing with a friend I haven’t had too much housework to do so far and the little I have done I’ve broken down to small amounts at a time. I still can’t manage to iron so I’m just not ironing any of my clothes and to be honest you can’t generally tell! However living with friends can also be very stressful and for me it isn’t working so my friend is actually moving out and I will possibly have some new challenges soon. Since I’ve moved out it’s also made me consider
doing other things I would’ve previously thought impossible as they
don’t seem such big hurdles anymore. If anyone wants to ask me anything you can email me rebeccaatkinson_@hotmail.com
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