Got my first payment since the jobcentre deemed me unfit for work and it's sinking in to my brain more now.
Honestly feeling pretty weird about it, jobcentre appointments were one of the few things I could bring myself to leave the house for and now I'm not going to have any for a year and I'm not expected to follow any requirements to receive my benefits. I'm worried I'm going to just keep sitting at home decaying even more now.
I guess I should make some quality of life purchases and try to sort my brain out in the extra time/with the extra money I've got. A new mattress and a back brace would probably be good ideas.
You get used to it, sorta... I mean, you're never really
comfortable with it, but the feeling you get at the beginning goes away and you can start focusing on having a life. As for getting out and doing activities, friends help... Friends help a lot. I personally went from feeling like I had nothing to drive me and an endless expanse of sitting with my own thoughts, to feeling like I don't even have enough time to take care of all the
leisure pursuits people hang themselves on.
You'll settle in and find a routine of sorts, it's just a bit of an adjustment period. Now you get to focus on yourself and making the foundation that is you be a little more sturdy, and then you can build off of that.
And just because there's no set deadline for the benefits doesn't necessarily mean they're
permanent as such. It's just that now you're a little more in control of the timing, and don't have to have the gov't looming over your shoulder quite as much.