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?

[Daniel]

How does your recovery from encephalitis factor into being qualified to do this course you're considering? I mean, by being correspondance, I assume that the prerequisite qualifications are more relaxed because the learning is self directed as opposed to you being in a classroom full of other people - therefore, whether you actually pass or not is inconsequential to anyone but yourself and those directly linked to you and, in the event of it being too much for you at this stage, it wouldn't impact the learning of anyone else but yourself - do you need to do any brush up learning to do this course? Eg English studies or something like that?

When you refer to your own writing above, I get the sense that you're writing it with a significant hope of publication and earning off it in the future - this may happen, I won't say otherwise, but I spoke with a careers advisor yesterday and she told me how the other side of the coin operates - ie those who receive books or writing of some kind to examine. She said they often end up with a significant pile of work and, unless they see it as incredible, tend to overlook it because there're too many other things for them to read.

All I'm suggesting is this - write for yourself and to express your own story and see it not as a potential money earner, but like a photo album documenting your mindset of right now and showing how you defied temporary mental illness sparked by viral influence to ultimately finish something which, I believe, is a very promising piece of writing - I just think that if you write it for yourself first and foremost, and shelve any ambition of publication, what you'll end up with is something written genuinely and not hastened or effected by hope-filled ambition - your grasp of English and sentence structure along with logically linked ideas is a credit to your abilities and obvious to me as I read : I've read other things written by other survivors with ambitions of publication similar to your own - what they wrote was conveluded and borderline insane : your writing is neither, but I hope you write for yourself and your own expression before allowing ambition to undermine your potential to come up with something good.

Could be wrong, it's just a feeling I get in your above words.

[faith]

Hi Daniel,
i have been writing sincerely since i was 13 (when i started my first book), i have two collections of poetry in my book shelf that i wrote during my 20's when i was going straight (giving up drink and drugs). i dont think there is any other way for the writing process to be truly enjoyable other than to write for oneself above all.
when i sit to write, it is because the characters are demanding to be heard, and they often do and say things that i expect...this sensation is what i call 'writing' and it so thoroughly enjoyable that i cant contemplate sitting to write merely for publication. getting published merely satisfies a personal need to prove to myself that i can still earn money doing what i love...
getting my PhD and working as an academic (was on the road to the PhD and was already working as academic) pre E satisfied this requirement in myself because i would have been published in this manner.
although granted, writing and getting published in the academic world is whole lot easier emotionally because you get to hide away in the academic world and theory and findings etc...
whereas writing poetry or fiction is such a personal journey which reveals things about yourself that a) you probably didnt know or b) probably didnt want to know! and c) may or may not want others to ponder!!!
so i agree totally, anyone who writes with the singular goal of getting published, will likely not get published...
when i sit to write it is 'my time' something i do completely for me....
however having said that... i would one day like to call myself a writer... and this means actually being published and having a profile, and one can only say one is a writer if one has written and published...
to this end i am doing two things (maybe 3?):
working on weaning elijah so he can go into day care one day a week next year (ringing around on that one)
continuing to work on the current novel,
getting together some research to write a non-fiction article or two (or three) and get those published...
see the trend?
i can write purely for myself and also with the aim of 'being a writer" .... in the end it doesnt matter if i ever get published or not, i will continue to write because that is what i do.
how about you???

[Daniel]

Hi Faith,
Have you considered beginning a blog posting, not necessarily the story (given its length), but perhaps either short stories or some poetry of your own? I realise it's kinda putting yourself out there, but I admire anyone with the courage of self expression, and I can assure you that I frown upon negative feedback towards a friend (I'm sure there wouldn't be any though) as much as I'm sure it would annoy you receiving it. I suggest this as I think, ontop of the idea being just a great way of obtaining some feedback from others here, it's also a great way of assisting your own self confidence at having others read what you write - if they come across as non plussed initially, then that's actually very helpful, I think.

I admire your obvious dedication to your family values - you must be a great mum. I absolutely appreciate your desire to consider yourself as a writer and, given what you describe of yourself above, it appears to always have been a passion of yours. Personally, while I also love to write, I had a significant period of my life off the rails - not in an illegal sense or dangerous, just in a crowd of 'lost' individuals lacking in motivation and seeking simple solutions to difficult questions posed. When I began to study Chinese, they all wondered why I chose that - I also wondered where I was heading with it, but studying it ripped me away from alcohol and stupidity-based living and put me into the position of standing at a podium and receiving a scholarship from the Chinese ambassador to New Zealand - that moment contradicted about 10 years of looking like I'd amount to living on the street, and provided a ray of hope that maybe my future was capable of changing or being in some way good - I still believe it can be, it's going to just require alot more perseverance from here as it feels like encephalitis is some sort of test life is giving to see if I've the backbone to stick with it through something awful - dramatic, I know, but I think if something pushes you to get up each day and improve a little more by going to the gym or job hunting or whatever else, then melodrama is out the window and dreams take precedance.

Hence, this is why I persevere with my studies - they keep me on the straight and narrow and facilitate a self imposed ignorance to giving up on improving by making my days rigid in routine.

How many pieces of writing would you say you now have written? Anything which you're particularly proud of?

[faith]

Hi Daniel,
in response to an earlier post, the pre-requisites, are a current bachelor's or higher and/or relevant work expereince. english proficiency proof is only needed if english is a second language. in my experience as both a lecturer and a student, external courses are often more difficult and perhaps more overwhelming due to the lack of contact with other students and the interface with the lecturer.

writing... some of the pieces i am most proud of are of an academic nature, my honours thesis, (which i have not read at all since i finally finished it), and some academic papers written in my third year i am very proud of.

the lecturing material i wrote for teaching critical literacy and text analysis and a subject myself and a collegue wrote called language/text and power. i am really proud of that and it was such a joy to teach... on the last semester i was able to work my students presented me with an award. that was such a nice way to exit from the place i had worked so hard to arrive at. still hurts.

i usually dont write non-fiction or poetry for others to view. this novel is the first i have allowed anyone i actually know to see. i did send my poetry away to a publisher who liked them, but in the world of poetry, they have to be published individually first, and then they will publish them as an anthology. at the time i was unwilling to split them up due to the personal nature of their birth (so to speak)... and now i find while i still keep them, i am a long way from the young woman who wrote them and publishing them now would somehow feel like a transgression.

i am in a nice place with my writing now, i am more free than i was pre-E (possibly because i simply dont have the energy for ongoing hangups!). i am working on a series of short stories, and the novel and have a long list of non-fiction academic papers in my drawer to work on when time/E and baby allow! (hopefully i will live a long time!)

cheers,
faith

[Daniel]

How confident are you in your study interests being right for you? By this, I mean that, when I sit in the lounge and study the language I do - it's all there and goes nicely, but I recall moments of being in situations of having to actually use it and that was a very nervous time : when I get nervous now, I get sloppy and forgetful - do you feel confident that your knowledge on whatever you now undertake will serve you sufficiently in the future? Are there any obstacles in the workplace, or with the desired outcome, that you can potentially now foresee? (eg speaking with a client on the telephone and with speech deficits, which I assume you unfortunately have)

[Daniel]

OKAY - NEW TAKE ON THIS TOPIC.....unless I've mentioned it before, I dunno....screwit....I'll discuss it anyway,

I've mentioned having a desire to enter the editing industry before. I recently looked online and found some correspondance courses which imply use in this field but, rather than exclusively doing this sort of thing, I also contacted a central city Polytechnic (tertiary institution) to see what they offer. They also offer relevant, in classroom education.

I also, today, have an appointment with an inner city job hunting agency. I went back to both the correspondance sites and the Polytechnic one and printed off the relevant information with the intention of taking it along to the recruitment agency for their take on it (eg doing both being a good idea or one or the other).

The sum total fee cost of doing both would be in the area of $2000 - $3000, but perhaps only half if considered independently. That's alot of money (about $1000-$2000 US dollars) but I've been anticipating this idea for some time and duely building up the bank account to cover it, so therefore this is possible to do.

It feels like the right idea as, afterwards, I intend to look for voluntary work to complement the acquired qualifications.

This would mean probably dropping my Chinese. I realize Chinese is probably going to amount to bugger all, but knowing what I do with it has taken 6 years and nearly killed or permanently brain injured me twice. To now consider turning my back on that and doing something else feels like a waste of this whole experience yet, at the same time, rigid study in this language has created a strong study habit and also desire to achieve in something : the proverbial leap of faith, if you will.

This being said, anyone else completely changed their life direction changing from one thing you felt passionately about and pursued, to doing something completely different?

[faith]

i spent almost 6yrs studying archaeology. i was completely single minded in doing this. as one has to be in order to finish at the top of the intake while caring for small children (i started uni when i my 3rd child was 3mnths old and i had another when i was doing my 3rd year), i ate, slept and drank archaeology and could quote a hell of a lot of the literature offhand. i was publishable by my second year and was doing research for other lecturers. i was offered a job as lecturer in my honours year (that NEVER happens).
by the end of my honors year however, although i knew my love for arch would never go away, i knew i had to change direction.
for my PhD i was (going to...was in my lit review when i got ill) planning a thesis on: the effects of ideas of womanhood and 'a womans place" by women raised with mothers who have PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), gained thru sexual abuse. so basically it was about mothers and daughters and the transmission of mostly unconscious ideas of womanhood, place and society.
you could say this is a bit of a leap from discussing the lives and material remains of dead societies.
i still miss arch, and still feel a deep pang of grief when i see my collegues going about their stuff out at uni.
but i dont regret my decision to a) walk away from arch and into another stream of study, and b) walking away from uni altogther to give myself time and space to grieve the loss of my academic self.
would i go back if i had a 'do=over' E free? you bet ya.
will i ever get over the grief of losing that part of my life ... dunno. dont think so. maybe when i am a published novelist, maybe. who can tell?
walking away is hard. esp when it is something that has cost us a lot. arch cost me heaps.

[Daniel]

So, I gather from what you say, one big aspect of feeling well again for you would be the ability not to covet your former life? The impression I get of yourself about discussions like this is that you're still very fixated on who you used to be rather than concentrating more on who you want to be now.

Trying to go back to being something you were before falling ill - obviously you don't say that above, it's just the impression I get, justifies the final question you ask yourself,

'Will I ever get over the grief of losing that part of my life?...dunno, don't think so'

If I may suggest something, would not dwelling upon this question moreso than asking what you can do right now in order to facilitate a better ability to move on past such things, only perpetuate your abovementioned sentiment?

I get the notion you've already begun to do this by beginning to write what you have - thinking upon storylines, direction, ultimate plot themes and so forth when you're *not* focused upon lifes necessities like paying bills, family concerns or whatever else, helps prevent dwelling on thinking about why things no longer seem like they once did.

In my experience, thinking too much on what things were like before encephalitis undermines your life post illness.

Let me ask you and anyone else reading this thread the following : if you could suddenly and spontaneously get rid of one symptom or aspect of your recovery (ie 100% fixed right now) what would it be?

[tobecome]

daniel,
in the field of child life i would mostly be involved with children 1:1 or small groups doing play and art therapy.

tish

Daniel said:

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?