@Alicja 

Last reply

Alicja

Can I change my job.

Hi Everyone, I'm thinking about my career. How far and what I have achieved for myself. And I keep thinking MS is holding me back. Got so many other things on my head and some, actually a lot of them I need help with. But still hoping I will one day I will change my qualifications. I'm administrator/compliance in the insurance company. How can I feel accomplished? What if you want more from yourself but you are on hold.
@callahang

@Alicja Hello! I am also in the same situation. My career situation is currently on hold until I find out what my prognosis is with my MS, but, I hope to one day return to school or go into a different career path than I am currently following. I don't know what the specifics of your MS are (what you need help with on the daily) but, I would say if you don't have mobility issues perhaps volunteering somewhere could be an option. Certainly, it wouldn't give you more financially speaking, but, it could give you a weekly outing, a social setting, a sense of accomplishment from helping others. And this doesn't have to be physically labour-intensive volunteering it could be as simple as being a "check-in" person/ greeter for a fundraising event, where you'd be sitting down at a table the whole time, so you wouldn't have to be mobile to do that necessarily. If you have more concerning mobility issues, I would say start small, and do something that you enjoy doing, or do something that you would like to try doing. Read a new book, and the accomplishment would be that you read 3 pages or 10 pages, or a whole chapter of it each day. Other options might include- free online courses, educational videos on YouTube, learning to play a new instrument, and learning any new skills. Your accomplishments don't have to be huge things, often the simplest things can bring us joy, fulfillment, and a sense of accomplishment. If you have a bad pain day, the accomplishment could be that you managed to clean your bedroom or do the dishes, despite your pain. That's an accomplishment in itself for someone who lives with chronic pain 24/7. Your accomplishments don't have to be major, progress is progress, no matter at what pace, no matter if you feel you didn't accomplish much, you probably did, give yourself more credit on the good days, and cut yourself a little more slack on the more difficult days. :) I hope this helps.

1
@callahang

I would also say that you can change your job. I'm not sure about the U.K. but, I know in Ontario we have a specific website where people who are affected by a disability can search for jobs that match their specific criteria eg: a job that is sedentary if you have mobility issues, etc. You could search for some work-from-home opportunities, etc if you have a system like that in the U.K. I'm not sure.

1