Working With Chronic Illness

After 5 years of being unable to, I am finally at a stage where I am working with chronic illness. Today, I thought I’d share a few tips and strategies that are helping me to find the balance between working and managing my health.

I appreciate that each of us is in a different position and not everything I share will be relevant for you. But, I hope that you find some of what I say helpful.

An Overview of My Chronic Illness Story

First, as a quick overview for anyone who doesn’t know me, I first began experiencing symptoms of chronic illness in 2011. Two years later, in August of 2013, I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia.

Unfortunately, I fell sick with a flu-like virus in October of that year.

My health was never the same after this and I would go from flare-up to flare-up. Each time I’d never recover to quite the same level as before.

In 2014, I completely crashed and ended up bed and housebound. I was forced to give up my job as a guide dog trainer and the last 5 years have been dedicated to reclaiming my health.

I am grateful to say that– although I am not 100%– my health has improved significantly. I learned in 2016 that I had Lyme Disease and treating this has led to my better health.

The two game changers for me in regards to treatment were herbal therapies and treatment at a clinic called Infusio.

Working WITH CHRONIC ILLNESS

Over the years I’ve been sick, I have treated my blog like a job. Even when it didn’t make me a single penny.

I could only write when I felt able, but my blog gave me a sense of purpose and this helped me a lot when I was too sick to work.

This, as it turns out, was a great thing to do as I have since turned my blog into my job and make a small income from it.

In May of this year, I also set up a new business selling my artwork on Etsy.

It’s very early days for me and I am not yet earning a consistent income (which is the big downside to being self-employed). However, I feel that will come in time if I work for it.

I absolutely believe in starting with what you have and slowly building from there.

Why Self-Employment?

As I mentioned, my health is significantly better but I am not back to the same level as I was prior to when I got sick.

I still have days here and there where I need to prioritise my health and rest. But, thankfully, these are much fewer than they used to be.

The important part, for me, is that I can now sit and work for a few hours most days.

I, therefore, feel that self-employment works best for me because I can work around my health needs.

I fully appreciate this is something you may not be able to do. However, regardless of your personal situation, I hope you find the following tips about working with chronic illness helpful.

As a side note: if you are employed, make sure you chat to your employer about reasonable accommodations they can make for you.

Helpful Tips FOr Working With Chronic Illness

1. Staying Organised With A bullet Journal

This will come as no to surprise to anyone who follows my blog, but I use a bullet journal to keep me organised with my work tasks.

I write down a list of to-dos for the week ahead. Then, each day, I will assess which task(s) feel achievable to me and assign them as my task(s) for the day.

If you are interested, you can check out my bullet journal spreads.

2. Keeping My To-Do list manageable

For me, it is so important to keep my to-do list manageable. I never set myself more than a handful of must-do tasks each week.

Plus, I prioritise any time-sensitive tasks first and allow myself to be flexible with the others. Though I don’t usually have many of these as I prefer to avoid strict deadlines.

I find that if I give myself too much to do (or have strict deadlines), even if I am experiencing a good week, I immediately feel overwhelmed. This stress, in turn, has a negative effect on my health.

Keeping my to-do list manageable enables me to achieve what I want each week while maintaining a degree of flexibility.

If something has to wait because I need to rest instead, it has to wait. I appreciate I am lucky with the work I do and that I have that level of flexibility.

I also try not to beat myself up if I can’t get something done on the day I wanted and remind myself that tomorrow is another day and I could feel completely different.

3. Adding a Mix of Easy & Difficult tasks

In addition to keeping my to-dos to a handful of manageable tasks each week, I also make sure I have a mix of easy and difficult tasks.

This means that on days I don’t feel as good, I can perhaps still achieve the easier, less-demanding tasks.

Ticking off those simple to-dos really helps me to feel productive even if I have had to spend the majority of the day resting. And, it all adds towards completing my goals for the week.

4. Concentrating on one task at a time

Before I got sick, multi-tasking was no problem. Now, I find that I get distracted easily and can get muddled up if I try to do all the things.

Instead, I find I am more productive if I single task.

If I am working towards a large goal, I break this down into smaller, more achievable goals that I can do over the course of a few days if I need to.

This makes large goals feel less daunting and more achievable. Breaking them down also stops me from getting consumed by the larger goal and overdoing it.

5. Use the Pomodoro Technique

I was introduced to the Pomodoro Technique by Chloe from Happy Pawtraits. It’s where you set a 25-minute timer and focus on a task.

Then when the timer is done, you put a checkmark on a piece of paper and take a short break. When you have 4 checkmarks on your bit of paper, you take a longer break.

I don’t necessarily always stick to the 25 minutes (sometimes it’s shorter and sometimes it’s longer).

But, I find that timing myself isn’t just helpful for focussing on a task, it also ensures I take breaks.

An added benefit is that it brings my awareness towards how much work I am actually doing each day.

Some days I can feel like I haven’t done much and I wonder why I feel so tired. But, actually, it turns out I’ve done more than I realised.

It’s far too easy to get lost in a task and overdo things.

During my breaks, I always get up, move around and stretch as I find this helps me to stay feeling as well as possible.

I also check in with my body and assess how I am feeling during my breaks and decide if I need to stop for the day or if I can keep going.

The Forest App

I am using an app called Forest to time myself as I work (there’s also a free alternative in the app store). It has the added bonus of motivating me to not touch my phone so I am not distracted by it.

With the Forest app, you set a timer and during that time a tree will grow. If you use your phone, the tree dies.

Each tree you grow is added to your digital forest and I am sure there is a way to actually plant real trees too.

I find it a fun way to track how much time I am spending working and it motivates me to avoid distractions!

6. Staying Hydrated & Snacking When I Need to

I always ensure I have a glass of water to hand and sip it regularly. I also make sure I have my meals at regular times (if I happen to be working around mealtimes) and snack when I usually do.

For me, it’s super important to stay hydrated and maintain stable blood sugar.

7. Working at a time that suits me

I don’t set myself specific working hours, but rather I work during the time in the day I feel at my best.

Right now, that happens to be in the afternoon. Which amazes me as this used to be the worst time of the day for me.

I typically have a slow start to my day, walk my dog and not much else. Then, I spend my afternoon getting some work done.

I find getting out for a walk each day helps with my health so it’s good for me to prioritise this in the mornings. If I am unable to go for a walk then I know it’s a day I need to take off from work.

Working in the afternoons also means I only have a few hours until my husband gets in from work. I know I always stop then so this is another strategy I use to make sure I don’t get carried away and overdo it.

8. Winding down at the end of my working day

Though my health is much improved, it’s still important for me to use the same strategies that have helped me over the years. They might just look a bit different for me now that my goalposts have moved.

One such strategy I am still mindful of is balancing my energy drainers with energy builders.

Getting up and stretching when I am working helps me. I also make sure I have a lie down when I am finished working to completely switch off my body and mind.

I like to use my Mindfulness Mat during this time as it helps me to fully relax and it calms my nervous system.

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I hope you have found these strategies for working with chronic illness helpful. If you have any tips of your own to share, I’d love to hear about them in the comments below.

further reading:

• A Few Notes on Working with Chronic Illness & Creating a Future For Myself
• Selling Art on Etsy: Opening My Etsy Shop
• Chronic Pain Art: ‘Within the Shadows of Pain’

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