Previous Post:  The Soldiers Hole

I looked at the date on my last post and realised that there was a lot missing in the world of Michael Cartwright.  I could sit here and bleat on about what has happened since then but I’m sure I would open myself up to a load of tears.  Death and illness have plagued the last few months and its made me realise just how short life can be.  A few weeks ago I turned 60 and realised that the next highlight in my life will be my own funeral.  Its a good job that I have my three songs organised for the obligatory photo montage.

I’m sitting here looking at the five drafts posts I have done since May 2019 and none of them have been completed so I figured I would start with the top one.  I initially called it “Political Policing” but that was going to see me on a highway to hell so I decided to write about he impact that my Mental Health has had on my career possibilities.  As I have outlined in this blog before my circumstances had me thinking about a different career but a number of things got in my way..namely having some balls.  The older you get the more testosterone you lose and your testicles shrink to the point where they would be more at home in a jar of prunes so I never made the choice and to be honest I’m glad.

That being said, no matter what anyone says, mental health can be a career destroyer.  They will never tell you to your face but writing a blog has made me acutely aware that you need to be very careful about what you type.   There are a couple of reasons for that, the first one being, your current career lifespan and the second one, your future employment opportunities.

Your current career lifespan is something you need to consider when writing about your mental health issues.  The way you write can give the impression that all your troubles are related to you current employment, even if they are you can’t say it because it can mean a breach of some sort of employment rule that nobody knows anything about.  My blogs over the last couple of years have had to be critiqued so that I was confident that I wasn’t blaming the police for all my problems and as a result getting an early retirement present.

Initially the police were very uncomfortable about my blog and they wanted me to close it down or at least make it private because they felt that it may offer up something they didn’t want people to know.  Then they had it examined by the “powers that be” who wanted me to remove the pictures and banners due to the fact that they gave the impression that I was blaming all my troubles on the New Zealand Police.   It was beside the fact that none of the photos were NZ related and were in fact Metropolitan Police photos.  I got the message though and carried on as normal.  I have had no issues since and to be honest the NZ Police have grabbed mental health by the scruff of its neck and tried to give it a good shake….but that’s for a future post.

As for career prospects, well, kiss them goodbye.  Sure every one will tell you that it doesn’t impact on their decision on your ability to do the job but “handling pressure” is what all employers want from their prospective employees and mental health issues come with baggage.  Just ask the NZ Police as they have folders full of rehabilitation plans with my name on it.  

When I was at my worst I was thinking about other jobs and it wasn’t until I made some enquires and I was given some advice about deleting my LinkedIn account.  At the time my blog posts were shared immediately onto my account with all in sundry having the ability to read.  I have no idea why I did that but I suppose I was trying to share it as much as possible to try and get the message out there about Mental Health….foolish me because I was advised to stop them as its where prospective employers do their background checks…bingo.  The advice I was given was to remove them as it would limit my job opportunities by about 90%….go figure.

So what have I done…..I’ve re-activated it because much to the Police’s disgust…I’m staying….I’ve got unfinished business and another job ain’t on the cards anymore.  My testicles have seen to that….