Your self-directed employment assistant
I was born with a condition called mitochondria myopathy, a condition called that tires my muscles easily and feels like everyday I run a marathon. I have to really conserve my energy as some days I wake up and have 60% energy and other days I have only 40% energy. I am only able to work part time because of it. Then compounding that I was in a car accident in which I developed dystonia, a movement disorder that causes involuntary muscle spasms and movements. There is no cure for either condition sadly. Sometimes, I wish my body would get a break.
My body is constantly tired from the spasms and the mitochondria cells not working correctly. This means I really need to listen and care for my body. Although anyone who knows me well knows I am an extroverted high energy person who likes to be involved and has her hands involved with 20 activities at the same time. For me to describe what I do professionally, it takes about two paragraphs to write out. So the big question is how does somehow living with a chronic illness take balance work and life? Well I am still struggling with that but I will give you some tips that I have found useful and I hope that for those dealing with any type of disability, pain, or condition that you can relate, use, or put into practice as you juggle work and living.
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Thank you for sharing this insight, Nikki. I am someone who never knows when to say no or slow down--thank you for the gentle reminder :)
I really appreciate this advice, I tend to try and fit as much as possible into one day. I definitely need to work spreading out my workload!
Thanks Nikki for sharing. I think this is critical advice for those living with disabilities and chronic illness, but actually pretty good advice for everyone!
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