Comments on: 7 Tips To Cope With Pain

By: Kathy

Kathy — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 06:04:55 +0000

I’m in australia and there are laws. However since I am usually doing those low paid low skilled type of jobs-clerical stuff, I think if I was upfront and said I’m sick you by law must accomodate me I think they would decline me on “you don’t have the skills we require” and hire a junior for less money and less trouble.
That said, I’m now in a position where no one thought to ask that question. Thanks for the reply

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:10:12 +0000

"Where do you see yourself in X years" is a tough interview question even if you are completely healthy! But Kathy is right that the answer to this question can be complicated when you are living with chronic pain. I work with one of the pain clinics near Sacramento, California that offers drug therapies as well as more cutting edge treatments such as bio-oxidative medicine. I think it's perfectly acceptable to say that you live your life one day at a time because your chronic pain presents you with a set of challenges most people are fortunate not to have to face. That's honesty, and I'm no HR expert but if they don't hire you b/c of a health reason, that seems discriminatory to me.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 23:34:16 +0000

Thanks for your response. I’ll keep it in mind!
Kathy

By: How to Cope with Pain

How to Cope with Pain — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:09:58 +0000

Rosalind, thanks for your thoughts. I’ll be reviewing Rosalind’s new book, Women, Work and Autoimmune Disease in a few weeks! Great book, with excellent advice like she’s written above.

By: Rosalind Joffe aka cicoach.com

Rosalind Joffe aka cicoach.com — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 22:29:13 +0000

Oh, Kathy, I love reading #7: Work is a good distraction. I couldn’t agree more! BUT – as to how to answer the question of where do you see yourself in 10 years? Well, here’s where I think we make it too difficult for ourselves because we worry that since pain (or whatever the debilitating symptom) is causing your hesitation, there must be something wrong with your response. Imagine yourself as someone without pain. What would you say in that instance? Frankly, I don’t know many people who can honestly answer that question – especially in the current workplace where people change jobs so frequently. So, get over the fact that pain makes the future uncertain. Just stay with thinking, “you don’t know”. And, then ask yourself, regardless of why you don’t know, do you want to say that? Or do you want to make something up that the interviewer wants to hear? Normalize, normalize, normalize — your situation.