For nearly everyone I know with Fibromylagia, it is not the pain, or the fatigue, or even the restless sleep that frustrates them the most, it is the feeling of no longer being productive or able to contribute. How many of us have had to quit our jobs or restructure our lives completely because of this illness? Most of us I am sure. And for those of you still maintaining your lives and careers, it is through sheer strength and will that you are able to do so.
For myself, Fibromyalgia has forced me into two career changes. I was in management at a high-pressure, fast-paced company when I first was diagnosed in 1997. For months I tried to hang onto the position I had spent ten years building within my company, but ultimately I had to let it go. It was not an easy choice to make, but it definitely led to an improvement in my life and allowed me to manage my symptoms without the stress and pressure I faced daily as a manager. I became a freelance sales rep, able to set my own schedule, and as long as I met or exceeded my goals, I could work as much or as little as I needed to. Some weeks I worked full-time, others I put in less than 20 hours. My position required me to travel a lot, but all of my accounts were within driving distance so I became a master at routing myself to take advantage of my “good” days and allowing myself the time and flexibility for those ever demanding “bad” days.
For tens years I prospered and even thrived in my sales career. At the time it was a very compatible career for me. Then in 2006, as I was driving to one of my accounts, I was rear-ended by a distracted driver. He hit me going nearly 70 mphs, and the comfortable life I had spent the last ten years building was shattered in an instant. Even though I had been living with Fibromyalgia for ten years, I had no idea how relatively manageable my symptoms had been. Sure I had many bad days and debilitating flares, but nothing like I began experiencing after the accident.
So once again I was faced with a decision. I knew I could no longer manage my sales territory and my health. I could have pursued the opportunity to go on disability, but I was afraid if I allowed myself to be labeled “disabled” I would start to believe that I no longer had anything to contribute. I honor and respect those of you who have and need the security of disability, it was simply my personal decision to eliminate that as one of my choices. So what to do then?
For the first time in my life, I decided to follow my passion for writing. I didn’t just wake up one day and decide though. It came about out of the natural progression of me trying to manage and improve my health. Things were pretty dark immediately after my accident. As the weeks and months past, I continued to feel worse, not better. My despair led me to start my first blog, Fibromyalgia Haven. I started writing about my health and wellbeing, and then a weird thing happened – my life began to come back into focus again. I felt like I had a voice and a purpose again. And then slowly, people started to visit and leave comments and share their experiences. And then people started asking me to write articles for them, or to contribute to their blog. And now, here I am, in my new career as a freelance writer.
It is by far my least lucrative career, but that doesn’t even matter to me. I am healing through my writing, I am reaching out to all of you through my writing, and I am doing something I am passionate about. So do I thank Fibromyalgia for bringing me to this place. I don’t think I will, even though I believe everything happens for a reason, and that I am exactly where I am meant to be, I also think my path was a little too painful and treacherous for me to be grateful. Maybe I will just be grateful that I made it through.
So that is my story, but I am really curious to learn about all of you. Are you able to work while managing your Fibromyalgia symptoms? Do you simply push through it, or have you made adjustments to allow for the unpredictable nature of Fibromyalgia? Have you had a career change? Are you on disability? And if you are on disability are you still able to earn a supplemental income? Any thoughts you have on working with Fibromyalgia, I would really appreciate if you shared them in the comments. As you might have guessed I am planning to write follow-up articles with ideas and recommendations to encourage us all in our quest for better health and wellbeing.
Hi. What a well written blogsite !
I came across this in my searches for people who have attempted career changes with fibromyalgia. As an occupational therapist working with children, for the last 8 years, I now feel a dwindling contribution that I can make to the field as I seem to have many bad days and even though I pride myself on being a good therapist, who reaches out to families, the pain disrupts my attention !
I am in cross roads and wondering should I pursue a teaching line in the field or should I move to Education where I will continue to be with young minds, but with a less physical job or should I explore my options in creativity as I have painted and created objects over time, as a hobby.
It is all to muddled at the moment, but I am determined to live a life happily and also achieve what I want to do, but must possibly restructure my goals and expectations from the self. I don’t even know who to turn to advice, as nobody really understands the situation !
Hi Ash. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts about your current situation. So many of us face a point one day where we need to decide how best to manage our career and our health. Sometimes the answers is a complete change, as it was with me, and sometimes there are ways we can modify or alter our work to best suit our health needs. What I have found in both myself, and the clients I work with, is that we have the answer somewhere within, and with support and guidance we can make the changes needed to bring our work into greater alignment with our needs. If you are interested in some coaching around this, just let me know. In the meantime, I suggest getting quite, using breath work or meditation, and then asking your internal wisdom what is best for you moving forward. Wishing you the very best!