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Mountain Goat
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12 Mar 2020, 6:30 am

I have already been thinking along these lines after hitting the last burnout in September as I was asking myself "Well, if I struggled with rhe last job, then what can I do then?"

Here are some of the aspects which I may struggle with. (I do not say I can't do the work. I say that if I push myself in these areas I end up in a mess).
I know I have a sensory issue and that is with smells, and the smells which set me off the most are bleach and cleaning products, perfumes in soap type products and perfumes etc, spray paints and spray oils etc, and being among new clothes, as shops full of new clothes or new carpets... The smells trigger off shutdowns.
Also, I can no longer work in most shops that have narrow isles and tall shelving. Basically stores that make me feel trapped if someone stops in the isle. These days, though I am very good at it, I don't think I can do customer interaction as in sales any more unless the job really suits me as the enviroment works for me. I kind of panic using phones. I will use them, but I try to spend hours preparing for phoning if I can so I am less stressed. If I am phoning, I will need a quiet enviroment so I can concentrate as sounds around me prevent me from hearing the one individual person. When I have had to phone places like car insurance or the benefits office and they have a head office with lots of people doing the same job, so I hear lots of background voices, this can prevent me hearing the voice of the operator and I often agree to things that I have not properly heard, as I want to end the stress of the call, as if I ask for it to be repeated, it prolongs the "Torture". It is not exactly torture... It is stress I guess...
Physical work I am not able to do so much these days as I find that if I am stressed and go to the fringes of a partial shutdown I will have the energy sapped from me, which then makes any physical work many times harder to do, and make me more prone to having shutdowns.
I do drive and enjoy driving. I drive in countryside rural areas to relax. But I would be stressed coping with people, and I do fear that if I had a job driving a small van, that if my mind associates stress with driving, that I have no way of stress relief. Also, I won't be able to drive and where we live means that I will be shut off and isolated, as I am the only driver and we have a couple of miles to a bus stop. So it is not that I can't do a driving job, but it is more that I could do with it being my last choice. I don't think I could do city driving as I panic in traffic jams. Is the only time I am likely to risk shutting down when driving as driving relaxes me. If the traffic is moving I am ok.
I do not know if I am sensitive to light or not, however flashing strip lights or an overly bright strip light enviroment on a dull day does give me issues where I try to avoid the enviroment. However, if I have a bright light source which does not glare towards me, or during the summer where my eyes
half squint anyway due to the bright outdoor enviroment, I seem ok. So I am not quite sure if I am sensitive to light or not, but the bright light dentists use does push me into a partial shutdown... But I do not know if I am already in one due to the thought of "Dentist". My dentist is such a kind gentle beautiful lady, and I know she would not purpously hurt me, but somehow I end up in panic... The rooms have no windows and feel a bit claustrophobic. I once asked for a different room and had to go back tothe room I am used to as the different rooms are worse!
Anyway. I am side tracked, but what sort of jobs could I do? I am not officy. I am a more practical person who gets my hands dirty, but the bicycle mechanics line of work is no longer an option due to the enviromet triggering shutdowns, so car mechanic and similar lines of work are out of the question.
When I'm in the right mood, I love to design and build my own models (Scratchbuilding) and kits with model railways. I can't spraypaint though due to sensory issues, and though I can brushpaint, I do get issues with it while the paint is fresh and wet. I can tollerate it as long as I am not in the enviroment for long, and it is well ventilated... But I certainly could not paint for long periods of time or be in the enviroment where fresh paint is drying. No way could I be a decorator, as freshly painted rooms can trigger shutdowns, and new carpets are far worse!
I don't do blood... I mean... I could not work in the medical field or vetinary field... Also the medical smells and bleach smells are the worst for me.

Now I find the lines of work I can think of... Well. I keep hitting dead ends. Model making is possible but may not earn me much money. As long as I can brush paint and I do not have deadlines, so the models can be painted a bit at a time as I can tollerate the paint fumes, it is possible.

Oh. I don't do heights. My Dad was a carpenter and was often up roofs. That would petrify me. Carpentry work also requires lots of fumy painting... dyes and stains... But the working the wood itself I can do... Though I am scared of using machines. I do have miniature model making machines, which I use with caution. :) But put me near a welder or a chainsaw or something very loud or sudden and I can't stay. Oh.. The worst bit about being a bicycle mechanic is when a tyre blows up, especially when I am watching a tyre start to bulge in front of me and I try to hold the bulge to prevent the explosion, and I can't reach the valve in time! Ooh. I am in shock for days! Haha! And the next tyres I do I am soo careful very slowly pumping them up... Oh gosh... BANG! It should be BNAG as it's bang out of order...

But any job suggestions? Things I can do which avoid sensory issues and avoid stress. Things which I will enjoy? I prefer jobs where I avoid crowds of people... I can do it on occasions, but I need days off to recover.
I don't think I could do acting as I mask. I know it is odd to say that, but when we had Drama in school, I felt it was a false thing to do as I am always longing to be the real me, and not hide behind an act. Masking is something I can't turn off. I could try it. If I am with a small group of enthusiastic people I could give it a go. But I could not do pantomiming. Stage acting is a big "No". Strangely though, though I am full of nurves, if I have to stand on stage to give a speach and I know it is important, I can not only do it, but thrive! However, I have to retire from people straight after and be on my own or with a close family member to calm down.

It is like when I attend toy and train fairs. If I am selling, I have a table to stand behid which becomes "My space", but I struggle to hear people with all those voices, and I hate being crammed in. If the venue is not too crowded, then I can do it. But if the venue is crowded I am in panic! I need days, if not weeks to recover from each event though, so it is not ideal, and as I get older things like this have become harder.

I am going to goninto crowds this weekend at a toy and train fair as a customer, as there is one locally... Trains!! But I am not sure if I can do it or not, so I may need to try some "Coping mechanisms". I will go I think as my nephew needs to see such an event. I don't think he has ever been. He loves the few train things that he has made.



harry12345
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13 Mar 2020, 4:34 pm

A common theme to all of my three jobs is that I've been working with a broad cross section of the community in each one. Each and every person I've worked with in each job is different from every other person.

Many of them have been what you might call "characters".

None (or very, very few) have been what I would call "Love Island Neuro-typical".



Fnord
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13 Mar 2020, 4:55 pm

@Mountain Goat: All I see is a wall of words, so please break it down into bullet points.

Skills & Talents...

Disabilities:
• Allergies...
• Illnesses, Chronic...
• Missing limbs and organs...
• Phobias...
• Et cetera...

Degrees & Licenses...


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Mountain Goat
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13 Mar 2020, 6:34 pm

I write too much. Never been able to do bullet points as I have to write out the whole lot and then keep smallerizing it to get it down to bullet point or shortened form. I am like that as I speak as well. I find it hard to get straight to the point and go off on any tangents to try to communicate.

But I will try to sum up.

Sensory issues... Smells. Especially effected by bleaches, dissinfectants or hospital smells. Also effected by spray oils and spray paints or other freshly painted areas. Also effected by soaps and perfumes and the smells of new clothes and carpets etc.

I find dealing with people stressful these days and making phone calls is even worse.

I struggle in a physical enviroment because if I am in a partial shutdown, it takes great effort to get my body to do anything. (If I am deeper into a shutdown I am on the floor anyway!)

The problem is my tallents are practical, rather then office work, but due to sensory issues and partial shutdowns/shutdowns, practical jobs... Well. I just don't know what I can do to avoid having problems in a practical line of work, hence why I could do with suggestions.

I am not good with computers. Is all I can do is use this tablet. When I learnt computer studies, we had not even heard of the internet. Since the days of the internet I have been way out of my depth.