Don’t give up on your career dreams because of MS

You can still aim high at work when you have MS, says Rebecca Armstrong

When you are diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), many things change in that moment. One of the things I find most challenging about living with MS is how unpredictable it is – symptoms can come on overnight and they can be life changing. In my work as a coach supporting people with MS, I find that the idea of ‘I might not be able to in the future’ is one of the biggest barriers we encounter to fulfilling our goals and dreams.

Having MS sucks, we can all agree on that, but I really believe we can still achieve our goals and have fulfilling careers and lives. When we are faced with an uncertain future, we can often put barriers in the way of the things that we hope to achieve. For me personally, when I was diagnosed I was on a pathway to becoming a veterinary physiotherapist.

I had just completed my qualifications in canine hydrotherapy and had completed a degree in canine behaviour and I was exploring embarking on a veterinary physiotherapy path. I let MS stop that, and whilst on reflection I don’t regret not pursuing that as my MS diagnosis took me in a different direction which I love, I do regret that I made that decision out of fear for the future.

Now, that said there is a reality to living with MS and we have to adjust how we balance work and life differently. I actively work with people who are burnt out because they have been powering through and proving that they can do it anyway – ‘I’m not letting MS stop me’ – interestingly this is often part of the denial stage of grief and may indicate that we haven’t fully processed the diagnosis. So, building a career with MS requires us to focus on a few things.

• Understanding how MS impacts us day-to-day in the present. Using this information can help us structure our work and career so that we can find the right balance. For example, I know that travel really makes me fatigued so planning any travel in with time off around it helps to keep me well and able to continue to travel and stay well.
• Thinking about what adjustments we need and asking for these at work. If we are in power-through mode, we often don’t ask for what we need but the more we can do to put things in place to keep us in a good place rather than waiting until we hit that burnout phase, the more sustainable work will be.
• Being clear on what our goals and dreams are when it comes to work (and life) and working out a way to move towards them. It might take us a bit longer or we may need to adjust as we go but, in the majority of cases we can still achieve what we put our minds to.

Ultimately, we don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but then neither does anyone else. With a clear plan focused on keeping us well, we can achieve our goals and sparkle. We are talking lots about this over in our MS & Work group on Facebook, come and join the discussion or drop me an email rebecca@sparkledevelop.co.uk