What do u do for a living?

[enchantress24]

I'm just curious and does SA or depression ever affect your job?

I'm a veterinary nurse. I do suffer from chronic depression and it sometimes does get in the way of me being motivated to go to work but being around animals all day really helps.

 

[Fairylicious]

I don't do anything anymore...

In fact, the last productive thing i did was the job i left when all of this was starting to happen. I worked an In-HoMe program teaching/coaching language and motor skills to autistic toddlers..... It was an early intervention program...

And i had it made. I could do all the self medicating i wanted, it paid all my bills, my boss loved me, the kids loved me (probably because they sensed a shut offness with me that they could relate to), i got paid on days i didn't work and it didn't count against me (can't work with a kid if they didn't go to school that day, but we don't lose the hours because it's not our fault the kid was sick-- kinda like a teacher)

But when all this happened, i just ran... I just wanted to be with a particular part of my family like they would be able to save me from the monsters that were suddenly chasing me all at once.

I haven't had a meaningful job sense, and the shit i had was so below my education and experience level that i never fit in with the people and they all wanted to know why i was there. And on top of that, it was causing me great distress to show up for these jobs... Either i didn't want to be out of the house, or i didn't want to be away from my cousin, or i didn't want to have to deal with walking there (running inevitably cost me my car as i couldnt' pay for it anymore).

I'd usually end up crying the night before a shift and while i was getting ready, and i'd ususally be in the spazed out super stressed and anxious mood when i got home. My cousing would have to spend like an hour peeling me off the celing before i could handle the concept of her going to bed (i was/and in ways still am, dealing with abandonment issues which are being expressed in a very specific, profound and directional seperation anxiety. It drives my cousin nuts, but she refuses to let me push her away. was but heads all the time).

anyhow, i think that pretty much sums up how it affected my jobt.
I was actually, and have always been great at my actual job. It's the need for approval in me. I've been acting on this world stage for as long as i can remember. Such comes in handy when i need to be out of the house and don't want to look like a total freak. Its just that i'm so worn down from the years and years of constant playing that i'm falling apart at the seams....

so i've decided not to work for a while until i can really face myself and deal with this bullshit. I'm in the process of getting the aids i qualify for so that my life is functional while i take this mental sebatical. So far, i think i have a constant source of someone else paying my rent for a while, and i've figured out how to get a steady stream of food money, so now i am just waiting for what i qualify for weekly and i'll go from there.

because this just can't go on forever.

 

[Remus]

sounds ideal to me flakey

I was an electronics engineer for years, then worked at starbucks as a barista and also a WOk chef at a thai/viet/korean noodle bar

oh I worked at gamesworkshop for abit just for fun

 

[Hoth]

Self-employed doing software / web dev. Perfect for avoidance, I only communicate with customers online. On the other hand, it doesn't feel like I'm part of the world or have any openings for something to happen. Also, finding motivation to actually get work done can be very tricky. And the pay is bad.

 

[weak]

Self employed - webmaster.

You program Hoth?

 

[Hoth]

Yeah, PHP scripts (here).

 

[Riiya]

[We'll be back after these messages.]

 

[Hoth]

This self-employing thing... how does it work exactly and can you really make a living out of it? I've attempted private tutoring once, but finding customers (and keeping them :lol was so much hassle that I decided to go ahead and find a normal job.

I suppose marketing a tutoring service would require good social networking skills and lots of friends to have ask around. You'd have to get into the minds of lots of local people with kids... maybe by contacting parent groups or something. No doubt you know better than me.

Personally I don't seek out customers, I let them come to me. Once or twice a year I go through and make sure my scripts are listed in various free directories, but otherwise I just pray to google and carve up a sacrificial effigy of Steve Ballmer. Tested paid advertising but found it ineffective. I also rely on existing customers deciding to buy more licenses or some of my other scripts, to pay an upgrade fee every couple years for major new versions, and I've increasingly relied on them hiring me to do customization work at an hourly rate. Part of the trick of how I got the ball rolling is I did it for free for the first year (not really expecting it to become a business, it was just for fun), and that built up enough recognition and users that it was profitable to start charging.

None of that helps you with a tutoring business or any other sort of business, of course. I'd like to say there was a "hard work" element, but there wasn't, I'm just lucky.

The regular paycheck helps.

The oddest thing is, while monthly income varies from $700-$3000, I somehow end up making $20K-$21K every single year. My subconscious must drive me to do just enough work to hit that and no more. If only I could find the knob to adjust it upwards...

 

[EmO_tionAlChick]

I suppose marketing a tutoring service would require good social networking skills and lots of friends to have ask around. You'd have to get into the minds of lots of local people with kids... maybe by contacting parent groups or something. No doubt you know better than me.

Personally I don't seek out customers, I let them come to me. Once or twice a year I go through and make sure my scripts are listed in various free directories, but otherwise I just pray to google and carve up a sacrificial effigy of Steve Ballmer. Tested paid advertising but found it ineffective. I also rely on existing customers deciding to buy more licenses or some of my other scripts, to pay an upgrade fee every couple years for major new versions, and I've increasingly relied on them hiring me to do customization work at an hourly rate. Part of the trick of how I got the ball rolling is I did it for free for the first year (not really expecting it to become a business, it was just for fun), and that built up enough recognition and users that it was profitable to start charging.

None of that helps you with a tutoring business or any other sort of business, of course. I'd like to say there was a "hard work" element, but there wasn't, I'm just lucky.

The regular paycheck helps.

The oddest thing is, while monthly income varies from $700-$3000, I somehow end up making $20K-$21K every single year. My subconscious must drive me to do just enough work to hit that and no more. If only I could find the knob to adjust it upwards...[/quote]

Im happy for you that u at least try to manage some kind of income at home. Because like I say "DO FOR YOU BECAUSE NO1 ELSE WILL" so Good Luck! [/b][/color]

 

[tuxtux]

Yeah, PHP scripts (here).

Your site looks nice. If we weren't a software company and had our own web developers I'd recommend you to my boss
(got a part-time job in a software company, and I'm still a student)

Mh, depression has screwed with my grades a lot in the past, and there were days when I didn't get a lot of work done - but mostly I'm fine at work. I have a bit of a problem making phone calls but I usually don't have to because my desk doesn't have a phone (we're a small company and not everyone has a phone), so I can usually let my colleagues do that and when they can't, I just grit my teeth and do it.

 

[weak]

Personally I don't seek out customers, I let them come to me. Once or twice a year I go through and make sure my scripts are listed in various free directories, but otherwise I just pray to google and carve up a sacrificial effigy of Steve Ballmer. Tested paid advertising but found it ineffective. I also rely on existing customers deciding to buy more licenses or some of my other scripts, to pay an upgrade fee every couple years for major new versions, and I've increasingly relied on them hiring me to do customization work at an hourly rate. Part of the trick of how I got the ball rolling is I did it for free for the first year (not really expecting it to become a business, it was just for fun), and that built up enough recognition and users that it was profitable to start charging.

you hang out on any webmaster forums? after youve built up a solid rep it's really easy to get a steady stream of customers... eventually you can get to the point where you can be selective and only choose to take on the highest paying clients.

 

[Tonto]

I work in finance in an office with about 150 other people. I don't really like the job it's boring, there's tons of deadlines and it can be stressful.