Invisibility- invisible, I feel like I’m invisible..

[Vcal2017]

Hello from Australia!
I had a really really rough mental health patch over Christmas and the New Year and Mumsnet helped keep me here and I mean that in the most direct sense. While things are slowly picking up, at work I find I’m still feeling the aftermath. I’ve been put into a new team, and I’m hopeful it works out, but I notice people don’t make eye contact with me and in meetings I say things and seem to get talked over. I feel pretty raw and know that depression makes me over sensitive. It’s hard navigating the world as a middle aged woman. I just feel irrelevant. I feel like a hologram or a suggestion of a person rather than a real one. Can anyone relate? Does anyone have any suggestions on how to change this?

It really is difficult being middle aged!

The things you want to scream about just get eye rolls.

Everyone seems to just not bother doing their jobs properly, and nobody seems to care about quality any more.

It is very frustrating.

I managed to deal with it by getting a job as one of the bosses, hired savvy ladies to do the job and spent the last 3 years before retiring just doing my own thing and showing them all how it should be done.

But oh my, the rest of them did my head in.

I wish could say how to deal with the sort of dismissal at work you describe but I don't know how myself! Just wanted to say don't give up - it's hard when life starts getting better but there's still a way to go & just because you're working with unpleasant people doesn't mean you always will.

@Vcal2017 I am sorry to hear that you had a horrible time & your MH took a bit of a battering. I completely understand the "invisibility" and feeling invisible thing.
I think if we are naturally quiet, shy, introverted, don't want to draw attention to ourselves type of person, we are automatically sidelined! People just think we are odd because we're not outspoken or avoid gaze. I can't stand people who have to make their presence felt because no one has actually noticed they are there. I watched someone in my office the other day clashing the frigging crockery in the dishwasher, whilst talking v loudly just because a newbie had started and she wanted to be 👀 and heard. Poor, sad cow!! People will go to any lengths. I just sat there watching her.

@Vcal sorry forgot to say, please don't ever feel that you are irrelevant! Your voice and your opinions are as valid as the next person.
You might be of a generation where you were told to keep quiet and only speak when you were spoken to. I know I was and it really didn't do me any favours in trying to move forward in my careers. I felt I was never good enough BUT WE ARE GOOD ENOUGH!!!
Remember with age ( even though i dont know your age..lol) comes life experiences, wisdom and common sense which we have in vast abundance unlike some of the younger people we have the misfortune of working with.

@MrsHench Thank you! Your message made me smile. Yes
working with young people can be tough. Yesterday I colleague and I had to move some furniture: the two 25 year olds we work with, watched us!