Jobs for People with Chronic Pain

I'm back at work! I really can't believe it. I feel like it is one of those pinch me I'm dreaming moments.

Years ago when I made the switch from graphic design to teaching, I knew I made a wonderful life decision. While a lot of parts of teaching are stressful, I found that there are just as many wonderful, heartwarming moments. I love the fact that some of my old students still contact me and keep in touch.

I'm one of those teachers that always viewed my students as my own kids.

So when I had to give up my teaching career because of my adhesive arachnoiditis, it was life-altering, and not in a good way.

I have spent the last 3 years rehabilitating my body and while I've had setbacks, I've also gotten stronger and learned to deal with my condition.

Jobs for People with Chronic Pain

If you haven't heard, I have a podcast now with my PIC #awkwardyethealthy Rebekah Svensson, Chronic Warrior Women. She has been such a positive influence in my life. In fact, she is the reason I have my current job!

Rebekah started teaching with VIPKid back in June. When we were chatting one day after recording our podcast she told me how much she earned with them in July and I was shocked.

I immediately asked, what was the name of that company? Can I teach there?

The answer is yes.

If you have a 4-year degree in any subject and 1 year of experience with kids (church, babysitting, teaching, etc.) you can teach with VIPKid!

I'm so happy I kept my teaching certificate current! I passed the initial assessment and got an interview scheduled, which was a 5 minute demonstration of a short lesson. After passing the demo, the next step is passing a mock class for one of the teaching levels.

With my experience in education, I had no problem passing the Level 2-5 mock classes, with practice, neither will most people!
I'm in my 4th week of teaching and loving it.

I've taught with high pain, with my tens unit on and ice packs with zero problems. If you meet these qualifications I recommend giving VIPKid a shot!

Just let me know and I will send you an invitation link to fill out an application!

Getting Back to Pain Free Days Part 2

Howdy y'all! It's been a beat since I was able to post. I have finally, fingers crossed, come out of my terrible pain flare. My lumbar spine has stabilized and I have enjoyed some low pain days in the past two weeks.

It took a lot of work to get back here and between you and me, I need to stay strong and keep trucking on my path.

I'm sure you are sitting there asking yourself what did I do to get back to low and no pain days...

Well, I will address that question in detail over the next few posts.

In summary, I talked to my awesome physical therapist, got a program to follow (more on this later), made sure I was eating healthy regular meals, getting adequate sleep, didn't bend over at all for any reason, and started a new career.

That sounds like so much in such a short time, and believe me I'm flabbergasted that it's September. How in the hell did that happen? Where the heck did this year go?

It seems like so much of my year has been playing catch up but I really have been able to take care of some long term goals that have been floating around my cabinet of undone accomplishments.

In fact, today I'm working on some of that to-do list, like the never-ending task of transferring files and programs to a new laptop. UGH! So tedious but has to be done.