How to Deal With Chronic Illness and Do Your Job
By: Matthew Maniaci
Tags: Life Lessons, Work, Self, Mental Health, Productivity

How to Deal With Chronic Illness and Do Your Job

A crash course in employment with mental illness.

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

Having a mental or chronic illness and holding down a job can be a challenge. In addition to managing your illness, you manage the aspects of your job and coworkers. For many, this can be incredibly draining.

One way to combat this is to put yourself into a routine. I’ve found that when a given task is on an automatic routine, it consumes fewer spoons. The goal is to put as much of your life on routine as possible to reduce spoon consumption.

During the workweek, I do my best to go to bed at the same time every night. I find that I fall asleep better and quicker if I do it at the same time every night. If sleep knows where and when to find you, it’ll often come faster.

That said, I have an office job that doesn’t take a lot of physical effort and has a regular schedule. Service jobs are much different and require a different approach. If you have a regular schedule than build your sleep schedule around that. Go to bed at the same time before your shifts, even if it means going to bed at 10:30 one night and 8:00 the next.

If your shifts are unpredictable but fall within a certain set of hours (daytime business hours, for example), you can wire your sleep patterns around that timeframe with the understanding that some days, you wake up and go straight to work, and other days, you come home from work and go straight to bed.

For quite a while, I had two jobs where my schedule was 5 AM-12:30 on Friday and Saturday, 12:30–8:00 PM on Sunday, and 7:00 AM-3:30 on Monday and Tuesday. Whenever I could manage, I went to bed at the same times for the same shifts. This meant that I went to bed at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and 1:00 a.m. on Saturday.

As for the times outside of work and sleep, I find routines work for me. Eat meals at roughly the same time every day if you can. Make time for yourself to do things that rest and refresh you. Never feel obligated to do social things if you aren’t up for it.

For me, social activities are draining, so if I find I have too much on my plate, I try to pare down. Make peace with the fact that something may not get done today, and do your best to get it done tomorrow.

At the same time, don’t let yourself descend too far into procrastination. Try to manage your energy in ways that end in a net positive. If you have a good day and have some energy when you get home, tackle the dishes that you’ve been putting off.

Alternatively, invest small amounts of energy into doing little bits regularly. Get in the habit of spritzing your shower with cleaner and rinsing it off right after you get done. It will take 30 seconds, but your shower will stay clean out of pure habit.

On the opposite end, learn where you can afford to cut corners to conserve energy. If you hate shaving, get an electric razor. If it’s hard to shower, figure out if you can afford to skip a day and invest in dry shampoo. Learn hairstyles that look good but take two minutes. Start minimizing your makeup routine. Keep protein bars around if you aren’t feeling like making breakfast.

Put your wardrobe on automatic: I have a dedicated row for each of my clothing items (shirts, pants, etc.) that I cycle through in order. They are all generic enough that everything goes with everything, but because they are in odd numbers, it looks like I picked out my clothes every day.

In reality, all I’m doing is pulling the next item in line off of the hanger and putting it on with zero choices on my end. I don’t invest any energy in picking my clothes unless there is a particular thing that I must do which requires a particular clothing choice.

On the flip side, find things that give you energy and do them. Develop rituals that are calming and either don’t consume much energy or give you energy and focus. Learn to shave with a straight razor. Take up meditation. Teach yourself to knit. Find a small hobby or thing that puts your mind at rest, even for a little.

If you can afford it, go to therapy. There are a number of nonprofits in my town that accept appointments on a sliding fee scale based on income; do a little digging to find a place near you that does this. Medication helps but isn’t for everyone. If you want to but can’t afford it, look into options for insurance, whether through a job, through the Marketplace, or through Medicaid and Medicare.

If you are having trouble holding a job, try to find alternative means. There are numerous apps that offer fee-for-service tasks and let you set your own hours, like driving for Uber, Postmates, or Amazon. If you took up a craft, try to find a place to sell what you make, either online or through craft shows.

If you need supplemental income, there are a number of legitimate ways to make small amounts of money online, such as Amazon Mechanical Turk. You can self-publish books on Amazon, articles here on Medium, or a number of other places if you’re writing-inclined.

There are apps where you can pet-sit or do odd jobs. There are data entry jobs that can be done entirely from home and don’t require a degree. If you have a degree in a particular area, try to turn it into a contract-based gig. People are always looking for freelancers, and the ability to work when you are able can be helpful.