Data entry is a tedious task. It’s repetetive, mindless and unrelenting, like Chinese water torture. Doing the same thing over and over means you get trapped in a cycle of monotony that ends only to begin again, like a snake biting its own tail. It’s like the chicken and the egg: which came first, the adverse incident, or the adverse incident report form?

Doing the same thing over and over means your mind gets stuck in the same tracks, dragging your mood downwards in a spiral, so that you think that you might chew open your own wrists just for a change (though, of course, this would lead to another adverse incident report form). And it was while I was in that state that I achieved what some have called enlightenment.

Yesterday morning I found that place which lies beyond boredom.

It was beautiful. It was like I had taken a step back from what I was doing and was able to watch myself put all the information into the little boxes. It was as if the whole thing was happening as a reflex, the data going from form to screen via my spinal column, completely bypassing my conscious mind.

And I managed to remain in that state for two hours, processing a total of 33 forms (a new personal best!), before hunger broke in and I had to go to lunch.