Has anyone written about or started a topic on here about the journey going from full time employment to being on disability (long term) while dealing with an insurer? That sudden shift from day to day life with employment to being, potentially, utterly alone and in isolation must be rough for some and very very few people have this experience of being able to handle this transition. Has this topic been explored?
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What you mean that feeling when you hop out of bed feeling like you can rule the world but by the time you drink your coffee and walk to the mailbox outside your front door you’re in tears because you can barely manage to get your shoes off and crawl back into bed? Or how you don’t quite know how to answer the inevitable North American ‘what do you do’ when you meet someone new because you’re technically still employed in your old job but not doing it and being up front about your health problems is a total conversation killer? Or the shock on your friends’ faces when you explain you’re trapped because even if you could volunteer a little you still can’t because your insurance policy prohibits it and if you were able to work part time a little which you physically can’t, you still couldn’t because you’d have to pay everything you made to the insurance company and pay taxes on the money your LTD insurer got and also lose several thousand dollars in medical care because your employer covers you on LTD but you’d have to quit to work part-time for someone else? Or seeing your colleagues advance into your job and get promoted to the career you wanted to have while you’re stuck taking every kind of rehabilitation program you can find in the desperate hope of getting back to work? Or trying to figure out at what point you can give up some of your work clothes and tools and professional licences instead of paying for something you can’t use? All while being terrified that your claims manager or your doctor’s reporting delays or your employer carrying your medical will screw you over and you’ll end up on the street or without your lifesaving medications.
No I can’t recall seeing anyone talking about all of that before.
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Well said @Caro
Such a difficult transition, especially when employer obstructed accommodations process that could have meant maintenance of gainful employment. IMO, insurance CO’s need to do more to assist in that dynamic.
Thank you for raising the topic @anonymous1
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I spend a lot of time in bed and my mind often wanders and lately despite everything that’s been happening I feel a sense of guilt. As difficult as life has been sometimes I find myself staring at Google maps at rush hour.
I see all of those people stuck in traffic. Sure these people wake up and live life normally but when I think about this I still feel a strong sense of guilt. These people are trapped in their own lives going about life as normal while I’m trapped in bed getting paid and doing nothing.
I guess both parties are trapped in their own ways but I can’t explain why I feel guilty despite my medical condition and poor prognosis.
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Tbh, the first few years were so so so hard. I had so much guilt. I missed my coworkers.
Then I was slapped in the face by more medical stuff and that changed things for me. They were moving on. I could too
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The transition is hard. I struggled immensely going from an extremely intense, high responsibility corporate role to being at home without structure.
Early on, my therapist told me, “Find absolutely anything that lets you check off an accomplishment box in your mind. Even a small win that gives you a bit of dopamine a couple of times a day can be the difference between depression and feeling content.”
Because of my injuries, I had to start small. At first it was simply making the bed each morning. Then it became doing one load of laundry every day, no matter how small. Then taking the dog for a walk each day, even if it was brief. Within a week, my mental state improved dramatically. A year later I was almost my old self again, mentally.
For me, it is not about chasing joy. It is about finding activities that create a sense of completion and purpose. Playing with my young children brings immense joy, but that feeling is fleeting. In contrast, spending about twenty minutes spread over each weekday managing a couple stock trades in my TFSA on my phone (that allows me to cover our household expenses) gives me a deep sense of purpose and accomplishment, and it has drastically improved my mental health.
The transition is hard, there is no preventing that, but if one can find a simple activity they can accomplish each day that provides some challenge and aligns with their values and aptitudes, I believe life becomes much better and relatively quickly.
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Hmm I wish I had had that advice, I can see how it would help
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That was intense for me. I was high functioning management superstar.. Then suddenly I was at home without work to hide in. It was very hard for a few years.
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Fellow workaholic represents!
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