Working from home has always been the main focus of this blog. Up until a few months ago, I had been working from home since the latter part of 2005. I did a variety of online jobs and tried just about everything to bring a little bit of extra money into the house. I went through phases of making decent amounts of money and phases of making hardly anything. I learned a lot over the years, and honestly, wasted a lot of time on scams out there but I found a lot of legit things as well.
I had the ability to experience what it was like to work from home. It wasn't always as great as it sounded. Yes, I experienced the perks of being able to work in my pjs and staying home with my children instead of putting them into daycare or shoving them off to a relatives house. Some of the jobs I did from home allowed me to work when I wanted to while others required a set schedule.
It wasn't always fun though. First of all, imagine trying to work while your kids are crying or fighting or whining for your attention and not having peace and quiet to concentrate on just the work in front of you. I didn't get out of the house much due to working from home and went through times of feeling lonely and isolated because I didn't get out to talk to other adults. It also became boring just sitting by myself (with kids in tow) every day.
A few years ago, I went back to college to pursue a degree in medical assisting. I graduated last year and then begun the long journey of job hunting. I naively assumed that it wouldn't take long for me to find a job between my previous job experience and my recently acquired college degree. Boy, I was in for a surprise when it took me over a YEAR to find a job. I applied everywhere, had some interviews but nothing came of them until the end of September. I had 3 offers in the same week. Two were completely out of the medical realm and one was somewhat within the medical field.
After working from home for 7 years, I was finally venturing into the working world again, away from my kids and away from my PJs. How was it making such a big change? Both difficult and rewarding. I had to find a babysitter for the kids that would work with our schedule. The kids had to get used to going to a babysitter on a regular basis instead of being at home with me.
How is it going a month and a half later? I do miss being at home but I am enjoying getting out of the house and making a nice steady paycheck. My body doesn't feel the same way, unfortunately. See, I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis when I was a teenager but it never gave me many problems as an adult apart from some aches and pains when the weather was cold and rainy... until now. I hurt. I hurt everywhere. My job is not very physically demanding but my body isn't liking it. I hurt everywhere from my feet and ankles, my knees, my hips, my back, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and even my fingers. My joints are swollen and sore. My feet and ankles are double their size. What's going on with me??? It's beginning to freak me out. It's been going on for about a month now.. at first I thought that my body just needed to adjust to working again but so far, it's not adjusting much. I am doing better this week than the past few weeks. For awhile, it was all I could do to get out of a chair.. no, seriously. I felt like an 80 year old and was in tears on a regular basis. My doctor gave me some pain meds but they don't even phase the pain. This week, the pain has lessened but is not completely gone. I'm going to wait it out a little longer and if it doesn't get better, go back to see my doctor because I seriously can't live like this. I'm too young to be shuffling around like an old lady. Way too young. I don't want to quit my job either. I can't quit it. Not sure what the future holds for me right now. I may return to working from home one day, we will see what my body has planned for me. Right now though, this sucks.
