Job ideas for the future

[Daniel]

I'm writing this in an attempt to gain feedback on other members of this site, regardless of current level of health, on what they intend to do vocationally when, in the future, health allows for the opportunity to do some type of work.

As many who know me on this site also know, I study foreign language, and have done for 6 years now : the pursuit of it directly.....jointly (with how much of a slob I used to be) led to the infection obtained while overseas.

I'm certainly not stupid enough to honestly believe that I have some sort of a future with my studies now due to the indeterminable duration of this recovery - beit permanent *or* temporary (I still vehemently believe this to be the case), but continuing it has improved my ability to recall knowledge very significantly, while also improving my resistance to mental fatigue and prolonged concentration. Hence, it has become a hobby containing my vested interests along with a high degree of cognitive mental rehabilitational value.

Nonetheless, I feel it is now time to consider what other options exist, so I put it to those reading : what career paths for the future do you see as a possibility for yourself? How did you come to the decision that it was right for you? What helped you discover it?

If you're concerned about coming across in reply as overly self promotional, don't be, as I appreciate *any* relevant feedback given on this topic. Of course, there are prospectuses for tertiary institutions and career path mentors and so forth, but I think the idea needs to come from within oneself at first and, after 4 years of admittedly obsessive pursuit of health from serious brain injury in conjunction with an also admittedly ignorant pursuit of a knowledge in a language which will inevitably proove unfruitful for yours truly, I'm left feeling a bit in the wilderness, so to speak, and looking for ideas of methodology to identify some direction which is possible at this point in time - what about you?

[tobecome]

I am presenty seeking employment in Child Life field. I did complete the certificate of child life compentencies in November. But there are not many jobs presently involved in my area (cleveland) and I think it would be important for me to move knowing someone in that area. I believe that come to terms with units I wouldn't be the best fit for..emergency, intensive care. In the meantime I have tried to even volunteer which has taken much more time/energy then i would have ever quessed. I've also found a psychologist at CWRU who is doing study on children's play development. That sounded the most interesting to me but unfortunately no funds at present time. Possible funds in new year. So I'm getting into gear to organize my venture to seek employment.

[Daniel]

Hi Tish,
Am I correct in taking the above as meaning that you identified your area of interests as being based around the idea of caring for others? You mention your current area of pursuit, childcare, as being the choice which you eventually settled upon, while also insinuating an interest in the field of either medicine or inpatient care at a medical facility. Before you settled upon pursuing childcare, what problems did you foresee in the event of your childcare studies producing a job - the potential obstacles you might possibly encounter in chasing that? For instance, I imagine spontaneously gaining the relevant knowledge and qualifications necessary to do such a job, and the following points immediately spring to mind :

* Groups of children make me nervous, and the responsibility of having someone elses child, or a group of 2 or 3 kids would present issues like dealing with temper tantrums (theirs), hygiene like showering or toilet useage for the very young, transportation of them to areas they need to travel to like sports practice and so forth - all these things immediately set off alarm bells in my mind like dealing with an angry or temperamental child resulting in the presentation of my own symptoms, helping a child to shower or whatever would be done on a slippery surface condusive to endangering the welfare of the child through my own lack of co ordination and, of course, I can't yet drive.

Obviously, this is not my choice of pursuit, but it is a very intelligent field to get into because, baring armageddon, people will always require someone to watch their children while they work or whatever......unless, of course, we suddenly invent trustworthy robot carers and therefore also negate the need for schooling, but that's another issue. What, except for the geographical barriers you mention above, made you want to do pursue what you do and also believe that doing so is a possibility over something else like, for instance, accounting or secretarial duties?

[Daniel]

Let me change direction upon this slightly and ask people this :

If you had the opportunity to be suddenly employed in any position which you feel you could achieve right now at your level of health, what would your top 5 be (assuming you were suddenly given the knowledge of how to do such a job, while still having your lingering physical symptoms)?

My father, previously and when I was *awfully* unwell, tended to vent frustrations now and then by saying I was going to amount to being a chimney sweep (the implication being I wouldn't amount to much) - he meant no offense and is a man who I have unlimited respect and admiration for, but I couldn't help but see something unusual in the idea of sweeping chimneys :

* I'd fall off the roof with vertigo
* I'd fall off the roof from dust inhalation
* I'd fall from just bad balance

Hence, this comment was not a good one as it was a simplistic idea (sweeping chimneys) which I would nonetheless be incapable of achieving. So I began to list my interests in terms of a final outcome :

* Translation work Chinese-English
* Teaching Chinese foreigners
* Working in customs

The first translation idea is something which, given my linguistic interests, is an obvious starting point, but one condusive to having greater fluency than I possess at present aswell as perfect aural pronounciation and memory - I have neither, so this job is an unlikely outcome right now.
I looked at teaching and similar concerns arose - pronounciation and memory-based concerns. The last one makes me laugh a little before it also makes me feel a little nauseous : a rectal examination with a perpensity to overbalance leaves me wondering if I'd only end up elbow deep in a pile of poo, and a courtcase incurred to boot.

Then my imagination took over as I saw working on farms with cattle examinations and long, rubber gloves, took hold - 'nope, bad idea, don't even go there' I immediately felt. So I wondered about the other end - not the head of cows, but the idea of the courtroom I'd possibly end up in - years and years of study, preparatory examinations, thousands and thousands of dollars of debt all to end up qualified to do something which my current cognitive shortcomings wouldn't allow me to do - farms and courtrooms = unlikely.

'Okay, so you gotta physically get to the courtroom first, right?' I then thought as the idea of taxi driving or judicial escorting entered the mind - nup, can't drive......'escorting, eh?' I mused as the idea of becoming a giggalo entered the mind, but I'm simply not pretty enough for a short skirt and high heels, though I do suit lipstick.......nah....'lipstick, eh?' I thought as I contemplated factory work and doing something basic like working on a production line, but the idea of a conveyor belt whizzing past my eyes is dizzying in itself....

....'dizzy, eh?' I thought while considering hypnotherapy, but my own eyes have issues and I'd probably nod off from associated fatigue myself in the process of performing a treatment.....

...'sleep, eh?' I then concluded and finally found something which I do do well - just can't get paid for it.....

...'Paid, eh?' - no, that's the outcome sought after...

...'Sought? Searching for something, eh?' - 'like a private investigator or someone working for the IRD (IRS) and finding people who are evading taxes' I thought,

...'Tax evasion, eh?' I mused before considering breaking the law and becoming a professional criminal, but how do I commit lucrative crime when I have a shoddy memory and balance issues? :

I imagine holding a gun to someone,
"M-money or your l-l-l-life" I stammer as they hold their hands up,
"What did you say? I didn't catch that" they ask as I begin to sense impending failure
"M-m-m-m-money or y-y-your l-l-l-life!" I yell before hearing someone in the distance call out that they're calling the cops, "b-b-bugger" I say before limping off,
"Um, excuse me," says the victim I've left behind, "you've forgotten your gun, want it back?" they ask as I turn, no longer certain why my heart is racing and wondering why someone unthreatening is holding a weapon in my direction,

"D-d-don't sh-shoot" I say as the person sighs in annoyance, unloads the magazine, pulls the finger at me and proceeds to walk off muttering something like,

"..what a dickhead"

It's a short path from teaching English to foreigners to holding people up on the street - life's full of twists and turns, but right now having a multi year recovery virus makes everywhere I turn seem unlikely, even sweeping chimneys.

[tobecome]

I think I have shared in past forums of my desire to return to full time work as a child life specialist. In the meantime I am working as a school crossing guard and one morning a week as a receptionist at an insurance agency. I just found out about a possibility of a position working with a researcher studying play and children's development. I have found this to be very encouraging...won't know for about another week..regarding details..researcher out of town. I would like to continue to work with children but I also think I need to keep myself in a healthy environment=emotionally. I think just looking for employment has made me anxious after not having a full time position in such a long time 6 yrs. Along with that concerns about finances, retirement plans, etc.. I'm trying to "stay in today" and make short term goals so I don't get overwhelmed.
tish

[tobecome]

daniel,
have you considered the area of journalism? I think your writing is quite impressive.
just a thought and a compliment,
tish

[Daniel]

It's quite an array of things you've mentioned to me : working in an insurance company, doing crossing guard duty and studying child life : have children always been a passion of yours? How did you decide upon that when the other two positions, with the obvious exception of helping kids cross the road, don't really lend themselves to specifically being a carer? What would you say was the biggest influence in your decision to choose to study what you have?

Writing, for me, has been an acquired interest - in hospital I had no other choice of things to do to pass the time, so I wrote and wrote and wrote, and now I can't stop - I thank you for the complement and idea, it's greatly appreciated seeing an acknowledgment, thankyou.

[faith]

Hi Daniel, Hi Tish, Hi to anyone else out there...
I too have gone thru the gammet of impossibilities, and recently a perfect casual research position came up, and for about a week i was very excited, and then reality came crashing in on me. What was i going to do with the baby? (child care is very difficult to arrange here), what was i going to do on a bad day when i couldnt drive, or put a sentence together (the job involved interviewing prisoners). etc etc etc etc...
so i thought that maybe this was just a crisis in confidence, if i just put the resume in that in itself would be a huge accomplishment...
and then i had one of them awful weeks when i had an excruciating E headache and the awful pain from the waist down...
reality time...
just not ready or able yet... that is the mind is willing, (to fantasise at least!) but the life issues just arent able to accomodate yet.
so... i am enrolling in a prof edititors course thru a correspondence uni for next semester.
i feel at the moment that this is the only suitable answer i have come up with... why?
well, i can get back into some kind of study that is not centred on heavy theory (like the anthropology and archaeology that i did pre E), i can further my credentials while it appears on paper that i was taking advantage of the time at home with a new baby as opposed to trying to reclaim my mind and body from a debilitating experience (have learned that most people are extremely wary and unreceptive to the truth)..
and i imagine that as a lover of words and books, this is a job that i will enjoy...
it is also a job that can be somewhat done in my own time, and in almost any location these days...
down side... more years of study before money...
upside... hope it will improve my confidence and eventually my earning potential...
havent really come up with anything else that ticks all the boxes now required with my new limitations (emotional and cognitive unreliability, physical lack of stamina and irregular 'down time', role of mother to fulfill, days of unrelenting pain which leave me unreliable in a 9-5 sense)
the biggest influence in my future job direction... my inability to be consistent and reliable.
cheers,
faith

[Daniel]

HAH! - SNAP! - I'm also looking into a correspondance editing course : you've just beaten me to the doing part : what forms of qualifications did you need to possess in order to do it, or is it open to everyone?

May I ask what you meant by waist down pain? (unless you meant girlie pain or something like that - then there's no elaboration asked for)

Interviewing prisoners certainly sounds like a challenge - would it be as a character researcher, a counsellor, or something similar? Would the prison not put you into a room where there would be a barrier between you? (ie glass - I've only seen the US movies) - perhaps it's your own imagination-based assumptions which are the true barrier when the reality might actually be much safer and less intimidating than it seems.
Obviously, daycare would be a concern and a big one, no doubt - are there no creches which might be able to provide care?

[faith]

Hi Daniel,
waist down pain is literally that, everything from the waist down to the bottoms of my feet and the ends of my toes just hurts, like a big block of pain. i remember having this during the initial illness, and it just comes back randomly. i dont think it is a muscular pain as such, it feels like my brain just sends bogus signals at times... it kind of feels like what i imagine a phantom limb pain to feel like. an intense ache and throbbing that seems to have no direct muscular cause. some days are totally free of this, others i wake up in pain, and sometimes it just comes and goes. interesting to observe.
the job was interviewing indigenous prisoners, male and female who are currently serving their term (in person at the prison), and others who have finished (by phone), for indigenous health research.
i was very excited about it, as indigenous concerns are one of my areas of interest, and the research was very straight forward data entry...
i just cant yet predict with any degree of certainty my ability to perform adeqately, and the job was a 12mnth contract.
getting access to day care facilities here is notoriously difficult, esp for children under two (the caregiver ratio is more intense for under 2's), and as we have no family here and my friends are either over 70 or working full time, i am kind of stuck in that regard...
so the stress of having to deal with the uncertainty in the end won out and i withdrew my application before i had submitted it. bummer.
as for the application to study next semseter, still in process, have had to provide evidence of my degree and study at other institutions... my computer is a bit sick at the moment (making some strange noises...)will finish this asap...

cheers,
faith

[Daniel]

I'd just to add why it is I chose editing as an interest of pursuit and see if you can identify with any of it : I considered serving customers in a shop and instantly that felt wrong as, sometimes, I can't even convince myself to do something - I'm a very unconvincing man....I think, I dunno, I'm not sure, I guess.
I then considered the 'what if an employer gives me a chance anyway?' question and I realized the challenge of trying to turn up to a start time with any punctuality - knowing which bus to take is fine and theoretically I could do it, but if I had a 9am start time and was commuting with every other Tom, Dick and Harry, then there'd be an issue with having to do something simple like stand on a bus (which is not easy with a vestibular disorder, as you likely know).

So, I've arrived barely on time for a 9am start with a sore noggin from the vertigo of rushing into town on a packed bus, and I then need to follow commands of an employer or his or her set routine - no problem with doing that, I just get a conjested mind when a long trail of things to remember gets piled on my mind : I did that for 9 months at a library recently and, although I eventually got the hang of it, my employers patience had bolted after, I got the sense, 3 or 4 months of my effectively being clueless while there, but sticking with me nonetheless (I'm grateful for that, but the sense of failure on my part is still a consideration).

Then you've got the colleague aspect of things to contend with : I worked with a middle aged cigarrette addict lady who thought she knew everything and was in control around me but, when the employer came near, I remained calm and receptive, while she turned into a blithering lackey - yes-lady. I hated that, because she was a transparent and spineless suck up aswell as being a knowitall, I dislike those types of people and respect those who only discuss what they feel they have some idea about or are at least receptive to what others say, while remaining the same in character - ie pleasant and approachable, not wildly over confident to some (ie me) who they feel better than, while kissing the a$$ of the boss in order to look good - cow, that she was : smokers eh? (I'm a recovered smoker, incidentally, so that's just the first criticizm which came to mind)

Then, after all that, and returning home, there's the realization that you have to do it again the next day or not long after, and after that, and that again - to me, this is just reality, obviously, but the alternative from leaping into a rigid work routine at a workplace after a significant period of time spent away from any such thing, is doing something where you feel more comfortable - to me, that's home.

'What do I do at home?' I wondered before realizing that I study language, and communicate with other sufferers of this virus on an excellent forum where I often post written things and use English and language in general.......language, eh?

Hence, subediting seems like a good idea, and I applaud your course of action, Faith, I think you come across as suited to it very nicely.

[Daniel]

That sounds like residual nerve pain stemming from the nerve endings in your body being hypersensitive from damage felt by your brain - I think I'm right there, could be wrong, I had phantom limb pain for about a year and hypersensitivity in my hands and feet which I thought would never leave, but it did so.....very gradually. I found that remaining active (physically) actually sped this upa little - not overdoing things, obviously, just not remaining stationary for long periods of time - the body adapts to variables such as this and so, if gotten used to, this mystery discomfort may lessen in time if encouraged - do you have access to the services of a physiotherapist? They, to me, seemed to know all about this kind of thing - maybe you could try emailing a local practice and see how they can help you, even if only telling you that they've seen this sort of thing before.

Part of the problem which makes it worse, I think, is being underconfident and jumpy by default - I found it made the discomfort worse for me - but now it's gone, hope that helps - remember that brain fibres heal at about a mm/day (I'm told) so, if your brain is bigger than mine (not hard) then it may take a bit longer to rectify, but it could come right if encouraged to do so.

[faith]

Hi Daniel,
the course i am going to do (god willing nothing else interferes with my plans/life etc) is a grad dip course so i will have to provide evidence of my current degree. i am excited and nervous about starting a new path of study, esp correspondence, but at the same time i am a tad frustrated because it doesnt start until march next year, and in a life with 5 kids and husband, anything can happen in that time, so i am trying not to get too attached to the idea.
i think my reasons are the same as yours listed above, basically i cant see myself being either suitable, or able to do anything else for a long while... still working on the book, in the hope that i may actually finish it, and better it and maybe even publish it, ideally i would love to sit at home, being a mum, and a hydroponic/permaculture/ self-sustaining farmer, while writing for a semi-living and watching my kids grow and my husband retire (that means he can change the nappies, do the school run etc while i type away at my computer)...
or winning the lotto - that would be good too!
i think the leg and random arm pains (along with the awful headaches) are nerve pains as you suggest, simply because that is how they actually feel, and it is the same as what i felt during the initial phases of the illness as i lay in an inert puddle on the lounge-room floor...
the brain is weird. and i am sure that the pains will eventually sort themselves out over time. i give thanks when i get them, that they are not as bad as they could have been.
cheers,
faith