Though she’s worked hard and gotten an MBA, she’s starting to think about finding work that is also good for her soul and her body. She’s concerned too. She’s not sure what to tell prospective employers about this jagged fork in her career road, or just how she’ll make it all work. She reminded me how important it is to share our stories, and to talk to someone who understands.

Some of what she told me reminded me of an article I wrote years about 8 years ago in which I chronicled the highlights of the first 8 years of my journey figuring out life with Crohn’s Disease. Having come from years of training in which the predominant thought was “you create your life,” I had a very interesting time reconciling this new body reality with that premise, and so I sought all sorts of remedies in the pursuit of health. I share it with you today, uncensored.

JOURNAL ARTICLE – What Can Your Health Tell You About Your Career?

Until 1992 I had been, by all accounts, healthy. I am sharing my story with you in hopes that you can use it to make a difference in your own life.

In 1992 I suddenly developed a severe gastrointestinal illness, Chrohn’s disease, which can be very debilitating. The cause of the disease is unknown, and there is no “cure.” This is my eighth year with Chrohn’s and I have been completely symptom free for 7 months, without taking any medicine.

7 months is not forever, but I can tell you this wellness comes with a certain degree of confidence. (While I tell you this, I mentally knock on wood and give thanks, and probably will for the rest of my life.)

My illness has been a tremendous teacher. I have used it to learn about my values, where my integrity’s been out, and to make choices more truly aligned with who I am, and what I am here for.

I had met and heard about people who were far more disabled by this disease than I ever was, and others who claimed to had gotten rid of it. When I fell ill, I vacillated between feeling lucky it wasn’t worse, and feeling like a victim, not so masterful after all. I learned that we each have our own process and learn our lessons in our own time. Click here to read the rest.

Joan

P.S. Have you caught Rosalind’s Virtual Tour? Check it out now.

Next stops:

• Wed Nov 12 – despite lupus, asked me to respond to this question: Why do you give so much attention to the issue of talking about chronic illness and do you think this is more difficult for women than men?

• Thursday Nov 13 – Fighting Fatigue asked me for to write about raising a family, working and living with chronic illness. I offered one “big idea”- a strategy – that I found really helped us.

• Thursday Nov 13 -Yes, we’re appearing on two sites in one day! Read a review of the book on Stuff and Nonsense.

• Friday Nov 14 – My Life Works Today — I’m writing in response to a reader’s question: What happens when you’re too sick to work?
• Friday Nov 14 - Getting closer to myself interviews me asking such questions as: what do I think about the universal issues women with chronic illness face, what should women in their 20′s & 30′s be thinking about as they look ahead and what can women do as a group to face these issues.

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Are you finding that looking for a job when you live with a chronic illness is daunting, overwhelming, depressing . . .

• “… Enter work gradually and with honesty to your employer about your health needs” .   YES!  If you don’t give yourself time to ramp up because you worry about what “they’ll” think of you,  you’re setting yourself up for failure.  Monitor and watch how work impacts you isn’t necessarily a bad thing.   I think high energy is an over-rated qualities.  Also, if you don’t tell your employer what you need, it’s unlikely you’ll do the job well.  Why set yourself up for failure?

• “… Find something that you feel passionate about so it’s a balance to your health…”   Hmm, passionate.  Let’s face it, few of us get to work at something we feel passionately about. But you can and have to find something that you care about in your job/career, whether it’s what you do, who you’re doing it for or just the folks you see every day.  Otherwise it’s just a job.  And when you’re struggling with chronic illness symptoms, that’s not enough to counterbalance the  struggles.

Rosalind Joffe  aka cicoach.com

Don’t Miss This!    MONDAY, November 3

THE FIRST DAY OF OUR VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR!

Check out the bloggers and their dates!

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We talked about her situation, and this overwhelming feeling she had that she didn’t want to return to her job. Though she had the skill set (she does IT work for one of the big consulting firms), she was not excited about returning to “the job,” and to the high-stress environment. But, as many people are when they’ve been on a particular track, she was uncertain about her ability to do anything else.

To compound her dilemma, she’s here in a work visa (from Canada) and even though she’s married to a U.S. citizen, any employer who would hire her would have to sponsor her, which means that they have to bring her on board for her special skill set. So, she’s got some extra constraints. But that didn’t stop her from dreaming. I loved her attitude.

I recommended 2 books that really helped me figure out what I really wanted to do with my life and for work, Do What You Are by Paul and Barbara Tieger, and How to Find the Work you Love by Laurence Boldt. About a week later, I received the following email (edited for relevance):

I  had a great week…  You are right I’m still coming to an ending and can’t wait for the beginning of exciting new times.  After we spoke last week I went to the small library near my home.  In the library there is a second hand bookstore that I checked out.  It was probably my third time there and they were looking for some volunteers to work 2 hours on one day a week.  So I signed up and did some training last week.  It’s really not very hard or super stressful and the people are very nice.  Plus it gets me out of the house into a new environment.

I did plan to look for the books you suggested in the library but got into the training at the bookstore first.  Then as I was helping to shelve some books these 2 books were staring me in the face… It was like it was meant to be and you can’t beat the prices for the second hand books which is great for us right now.  I was so into the training and helping out and wasn’t even thinking about the books at the time.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the Boldt book!!!! It’s so applicable and I feel like he’s really talking to me since I can relate to everything he mentions or even what the greats over time have known. It helps me to feel more hopeful about the future.  But at the same time I’m really looking forward to the future and working towards a new type of work and a new me!

Thanks again and have a fantastico week!

Can you feel her the shift in her outlook? Though it may take her a while to figure things out, especially with her potential visa constraints, I have no doubt she will. If you were talking to her, what would you tell her? Do you have resources that have helped you through similar transitions?

Joan

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We’ll also talk about why it’s a woman’s issue and some of the particular concerns for women in the workforce.

If you’d like to attend and have a chance to say hello and ask questions, too, you can! There’s no charge to attend. Just visit Futures in Motion to register. I’d love to meet some of you who we’ve only been able to write to through our blog.

=================

Notes

A special thanks to the author of How to Cope with Pain for her fabulous review of
Women, Work and Autoimmune Disease: Keep, Working, Girlfriend!

Anecdote: here’s a great example the incremental value of your network and support team. I’ve met Markell in person. As is rarely the case these days, she actually lives in the same County I do. I first met Rosalind by telephone about 3.5 or so years ago. I’ve been working with my Virtual Assistant (VA), Angee Robertson, for 6 years. Angee introduced me to Rosalind way back when, and it turns out that Angee is also Markell’s VA. Wild, huh? How has your network worked it’s magic for you?

Joan

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Are you STUCK when you think about the next job  — now that you’re living with an invisible chronic illness?

Then tune in to my radio seminar to get ideas about what you can do.

Assess Yourself: Find the Job You Desire and Can Do Despite Limitations

Tuesday Sept. 9 at 9:00a.m PT  /11:00a.m.CT/12:00noon ET

This program is based on my home study guide:  Keep Working with Chronic Illness . And, it is part of National Invisible Illness Chronic Illness Awareness Week, a worldwide effort to bring together people who live with invisible chronic illness and those who love them.  There is a week’s worth of valuable information and you want to be sure to look at all the programs to see what else would be useful to you.

I hope to share the radio airspace with you.  If you email me, Rosalind@cicoach.com,  with your questions, I’ll try to address them during the show.

Rosalind   aka cicoach.com

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The choice to disclose your illness during the interview process has to be a personal decision. There is no way we could possibly tell you what is right or wrong as there are too many variables. You’re not required to voluntarily disclose. You are required to answer interview questions as honestly as possible. Your potential employer is allowed to ask you questions to find out if there is anything that would prevent you from performing the tasks of the job for which you are applying.

“Job Relevance is the Key Factor.” From an article on monster.com: …interview questions should be designed to determine a candidate’s capability to perform the essential functions defined for the job. An interviewer is required to couch their inquiries in job-relevant language, and not to make assumptions about a candidate’s ability or disability. If you want to read more about what an employer may or may not do, read the full article, How to Interview Candidates, Part 3: Legal Interview Questions and Hiring Guidelines.

What about you, the candidate? I’m fairly certain it’s not necessary nor wise to start out your interview by introducing your illness too: “Hello, I’m Joan Friedlander and I have Crohn’s Disease?” It may be absurd to suggest you would ever do that, but the guilt and worry might make you want to just get it out of the way.

In our book, Rosalind wrote out some good ideas and guidelines about disclosure during the interview process (page 117). I think there is a lot of merit to her suggestion that if you decide it’s important to disclose that you do what you can to wait until the job offer stage, and only, again, when you have reason to know that you’ll need accommodations of some sort. If you chose not to disclose during the interview, you’ll do better if you have some plans for how you’ll handle disclosure if you’re ability to do your job changes. You can get help with that in Women, Work and Autoimmune Disease.

I confess I never disclosed on an interview because I only looked for a new position when I was well, and nothing was preventing me from doing my job at that moment. In addition, I didn’t understand what I was actually living with for some time because I went in to remission for almost 3 years after my first round of symptoms subsided. By the time another flare up came around I had 2 more jobs under my belt.

Later, when I had a clearer understanding of my situation, it was still quite likely that I could be in remission for months at a time. How could I say, “I should be ok for 10-12 months, but then I’ll probably have to go out on disability for a bit?” Do you think this was the wrong choice?

Here I am again, 3-plus years in remission. If I were to decide to go back to work for a company, do I know that I would become ill again? I don’t. I’m smarter about my situation, and I believe I’d handle disclosure differently if I felt it was important for the job ahead of me. Of course, now that we have the Internet a quick search would take a potential employer to this blog. Drat! I’d better get back to my marketing.

Joan

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When she first contacted me, Jo initially asked me to talk about our book, Women Work and Autoimmune Disease: Keep Working, Girlfriend! But it soon became clear that Jo had questions of her own concerning living with chronic illness.

Jo is a composer, writer, photographer and has accomplished some pretty spectacular things in her life. You have to listen to her music on her site!  Jo also lives with Lyme’s Disease and chronic fatigue syndrome. It’s clear that she’s quite brave and resilient. Although it’s not something she’s comfortable doing, she exposed her fears and battles around this as she “interviewed” me. Because she thought people would benefit from hearing this. Wow.

We spoke at length about the work I do as a career coach (cicoach.com) for people with disabilities because this is something she faces daily.

I had a wonderful time with her. I think you will, too, when you listen.
Rosalind aka cicoach.com

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He then told me that his Mom had fibromyalgia – news to me – and had to go out on disability leave as her health deteriorated. While she was out she got so much better that the day she reported back to work, she turned in her resignation. He didn’t give me any more of the back story, only said that the difference in her health away from work compared to on the job was so drastic she felt she’d be able to maintain her health if she didn’t return to that job. She has.

He also told me that at one point his mom did consider starting a business but by then her husband was getting ready to retire so launching something at that time of their life didn’t make sense to her.

Our conversation turned to health insurance, always the biggest negative factor when deciding about self-employment. Now that both his parents are “retired” they’re paying for their own health insurance. It costs them about $1000/month for just her portion of their coverage. That sounds about right to me.

Clearly, his Mom chose well-being over working for health coverage, and even without knowing their specific circumstances I think it’s safe to say that she had the option to make this choice, as aggravating at that insurance cost may be.

My friend’s story reminded me about the issues Rosalind discussed in her chapter, “Diagnosis, Disease Course and Career Development.” Your decisions about your options regarding work are influenced by so many factors, and there is no one answer. The variables that impact your decision about working include family and marital status, where you are in your career development as well as your career aspirations – or not – and your actual health at any particular time. My friend’s Mom, unlike many women who develop autoimmune illnesses, became ill fairly late in life so her choices and options were different than if she’d been in her 20′s.

Joan

P.S. If you live in California and belong to a group or organization where a discussion of self-employment as an option would benefit the members, please write me through my web site, www.lifeworkpartners.com/contact .

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And you thought that it was just YOUR  paycheck that was suffering!

According to this study, “The rising cost of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and respiratory illness, are threatening health systems and economic stability around the world.  The rising cost of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and respiratory illness, are threatening health systems and economic stability around the world.”

The report points to workplace wellness programs as one way to “tackle” the problem. That’s all well and good. Who can argue with the idea of doing some thing  in the face of such need?  But these are too often too simplistic band aids that don’t address the root of the issue.  And these programs don’t show the desired big improvements, these employers will throw up their hands and say, we wasted our money.  Why bother with stuff we can’t fix?

Do you know of any workplace wellness programs that include such things as: expanding services covered to include prevention,  employer practices that encourage rather than discourage people from taking care of their health and a better trained health care provider system about the multiple layers of chronic disease and pain management.   Do you see this happening anywhere?
Rosalind  aka cicoach

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Last February, I posted a survey to find out more about the concerns of people, like you,  living with chronic illness and working (or wanting to work).

This is what I learned.  Of those who responded:

2/3 or 66% worry about staying employed in the future

1/3 or 33% worry about finding employment

1/4 or 25% worry about advancing in their current job

Does that sound like you?

It certainly sound like me.  I’ve been there and so have my clients.

That’s why I’ve created a specialized career coaching program, the  Keep Working with Chronic Illness Workbook,  for people, like you, who either aren’t ready, don’t have the time or maybe lack the money to work with a career coach.  The Keep Working with Chronic Illness Workbook is a system that been designed to complement the book Joan and I wrote, Women Work and Autoimmune Disease, Keep Working, Girlfriend!

And while the book lays out and explores the challenges and opportunities you face – the workbook provides the practical foundation that you can use to build on your talents and strengths.

The Keep Working With Chronic Illness Workbook system is literally packed with the assessments, exercises and programs that I’ve created for my clients over the years. So it’s precisely tailored for people living with chronic illness. This will become your “Go To” guide. And it includes special bonuses (including a downloadable audio version).

Do you wonder…

• What’s the best job for me with unpredictable health?

• How will be keep working if I can’t work the way I used to?

• How will this illness affect what I can do?

• Who would hire me for a new job when I have a chronic illness?

I can honestly say that there is nothing else comparable to The Keep Working with Chronic Illness Workbook home study system — at least not that I’ve seen or heard about. The beauty of this is that you can use it on your schedule, use only those parts you need and work with it when you have the time. Even better – it gives you the tools you need so you don’t have to be afraid any longer.

PSST: To celebrate the publication of our book, the Workbook is being offered at a very special price for a limited time only. Don’t wait! Buy it now so you can get started before summer vacation — or you’ll put it off for yet another season! Got any questions? Email me: Rosalind@cicoach.com.  And if the links above don’t work for you, paste this into your browser to read about it yourself: http://www.cicoach.com/workbookpromo.html

Rosalind     aka cicoach.com

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