Considering SSDI

I’ve been considering SSDI A LOT lately. Way more than I should be I’m sure. I am just so freaking tired of getting up at 5:15 four days a week and not being able to sleep 8+ hours a night because I can’t fall asleep. However, I am hoping that when I get into my mom’s, things will die down in my head – since most of my sleep issues are self inflicted. I did buy Melatonin like everyone suggested and took that. It worked but I took too much. Now I am afraid to take anymore, even making the dose smaller, because I am exhausted. Though, I am considering taking it tonight so I can be sure to sleep.

I also keep thinking about everything that I could be doing instead of sitting here at work 10+ hours a day. I don’t get to see my friends nearly as much as I would like. I don’t get to see my family nearly as much as I would like. And I don’t get to do the fun hobby things that I want to do. Also, I’m scared to death to go back to school because I’m afraid that I will run myself ragged and make myself sicker. I’m worn out and worn down and so so so bloody tired!!!

If things were different and I could sleep on my days off maybe I would not be so inclined to go out on disability. Unfortunately, if I sleep late on Wednesdays then I can’t fall asleep that night and it turns into a huge snowball effect. Same with the weekends; Saturdays I can sleep in but one day out of 7 is not refreshing.

This boring, never ending project I’m working on has a lot to do with it as well. I’m sick of looking at it and see no end in sight. Every morning I get up and dread coming in to work on it. I can’t do work I don’t like, I’m not made of that material. I need to like it and right now I don’t. I don’t mind it so much; I just don’t want to do it anymore. I like the job itself, just not this aspect of it.

If I can last until the fall I will be ok financially. By then I will have been in my mom’s a few months and she will be back on track. I will be getting money in November from a CD I invested which can help pay for COBRA. I also have the money from my 401k that I am more than willing to use to help make the payments as well. Furthermore, I am hoping that maybe I can go on LTD until SSDI kicks in and then cancel the LTD and do straight SSDI. Getting a part time job that pays a couple hundred more a month would really help too. I wish I could talk to my LTD company without raising any red flags and get all my questions answered.

I just need to make quite a few lists to get me thinking. And figure out what I can afford and can’t afford. What my options are and if this is feasible at all.

A part of me wonders if I am just being lazy and not wanting to work, so I’m using this as an excuse. But thinking about it, is it really that big of an issue? Why should I care if I’m lazy and don’t want to work. I don’t have the next 45 years to work to save for retirement, so why can’t I spend what I do have left, retired? I wasn’t brought up that way, nor do I have that mind frame of working is why. I’m a hard worker; I was taught you don’t get what you want without working hard for it. So how do I change that frame of mind and accept that I might have to stop now, while the going is good. Or that I might not HAVE to but I should WANT to.

This is a huge step for me since I was so hell bent on working until my Jeep was paid off. I still have 2 years left as of this month. I refuse to give it up and would much rather default on my credit card than give back my Jeep. But I also have student loans that need to be paid. Those I am sure I can get the payments down if I am not working and only collecting.

Another issue in my head is being able to get loans for school if I do this. Will they allow me to borrow money knowing I am not working and might not go back after I finish school? I will go back to work as soon as I can after transplant, but who knows how long until that happens. How can I be sure I will be able to afford school? Getting grants would probably be easier than when I am working so perhaps I won’t have too much to worry about.

As you can see I am mighty torn. But I am finally at a place where I am truly considering it and might even be excited about it. I still have a lot of things to work on but the road isn’t quite as bumpy as it once was.