Happy June People! Yep! Today is Sunday, June 7nd, and it’s a BEE-U-TI-FUL day in Charlotte, NC! Sunny, mid-80’s with just a bit of wind to keep the air moving. Very nice! Finished a bunch of yard work this week as Im trying to “Improve” the look and feel of the backyard, but it goes pretty darn slow! Even with help from my sons… when I can get it. 🙂
So, in my last post I broached the topic of disability. Man… that’s just one of those words I don’t like. Very similar to MRI (Remember, I detest MRI’s). Well, my personal experience with disability actually started several years before I left the work place. I had some very cool jobs in banking and even at a National Non-Profit focused on blood collection (Don’t know if I can get in trouble by mentioning the names of my employers, so vague on purpose). I was diagnosed with MS while I was working in banking and, even then, I noticed that I had trouble recalling important details related to a project or even the processes/people I managed. It was often embarrassing for me (even though my co-workers/boss often had no idea) and frustrating for the people I was working with who obviously thought I wasn’t paying attention or just didn’t care. 🙁 Not good.
After my diagnosis of MS I was actually “down-sized” from my banking job. It was a tough time… even though I was somewhat relieved. I no longer had to worry about “Not Meeting” job expectations (At least in my view of things.. not necessarily my management team), but I picked up a whole new set of worries at the same time (Finances/Insurance). As I’ve mentioned before, medications for MS are way expensive, so it was definitely a trying time. Fortunately, I had applied for a much more “junior” role with a non-profit and ended up getting it. It was pretty much a great fit for the first few years, although I was making substantially less money. My wife went back to work in technology, so life was good. My role was more of a “routine” position with daily tasks being very similar day-to-day. There were definitely off days, but it seemed to be going well.
As things were going well and I really thought I knew the business, I applied for a more senior “Director-type” role… and got it. More money but a LOT MORE responsibility with a significant amount of time spent in the details of my group. I had assumed I would be leading a group of 40-50 people, but it turned out to be 130-140 folks with 70-80 hour work weeks just to keep my head above water. I had a very supportive manager who was aware that I had MS, but… at the end of the day… I just couldn’t keep up. Important details kept slipping my mind (Missed meetings, Not able to respond to general questions, etc..etc.) and I wasn’t making the best of decisions for an organization and team I truly admired and wanted the best for. So, after a very trying year, I applied for another role in banking… with a large reduction in responsibility (And pay I might add…. lol) and got it.
Boy… think I’m going to stop here and continue in my next post. Its been a bit busy and I’ve had a hard time writing this week, so I’ll try to finish things up Tuesday or Wednesday. Weather is supposed to be bad, but school is over for my 7 year old, so hopefully I’ll find an easy 30 minutes to finish up!
Until next time….
