To Stay, Find Other Employment Or Give Up And Be Fired...

[SeanCharles]

After close to eight or now approaching nine years with the same company, I am feeling like I am at rock bottom!

Given my choices are limited, my emotions are being brutally crushed. I want out! I've been struggling and looking to fight my way out. The only thing keeping me from slamming on the brakes is the MONEY. Nevertheless, I can't live on nothing and keep the roof I have and pay all the bills, Winnie can't exactly get a paying job either.. :(

I feel so at the end of my rope. (not feeling any negative thoughts here) just feeling like I am losing hope of everything.

I know there is an end to this, Do I really want to give up and get myself fired? or continue to deal with the stress and risk harming myself further?

I don't know what else to say or do... :(

 

[hodge]

Have you considered applying for disability? I had to do that when I could no longer work. I got a lawyer who specializes in this and it really helped. He got a portion on my settlement.

 

[barefoot]

Do I really want to give up and get myself fired? or continue to deal with the stress and risk harming myself further?

I don't know your background or the specifics of your current work situation eg I'm not sure whether your current struggle is because of your job/relationships at work etc alone or whether it's a struggle for you to work at all because of your PTSD symptoms.

But - we rarely have only two workable options in any scenario. What other choices do you have besides the either/or you mention above? It's easy to get stuck in a black and white decision where neither of the two options feel appealing. So what other choices might there be?

It may still be that some other choices are not ideal or are still tricky choices. But opening up the possibility of there being other options might help to 'unstick' you a bit?

A few suggestions (and, again, I don't know your current situation, so some of these may feel way off base for you)...

If it's the job/company/role/a toxic relationship with management etc in your current work that isn't good, could you look at:

- Getting a similar job elsewhere an option? And not resigning until you've found something else but really focus your time/energy on a new job search.

- Changing career?

- Retraining/going back into education?

If it's that your PTSD is proving difficult to manage at work, could you look at:

- Changing your working pattern in your current job (working from home sometimes or changing your hours etc?) so that you can manage things better?

- Going self-employed/freelance doing similar work (if you like the work itself) but being able to work more flexibly, in a way that suits you better.

- Looking in to whether another type of work would be more manageable - even if it means taking a pay cut (so this would mean looking in to what other jobs might work for you and also looking into what you really need to earn eg could you take a pay cut and make it work?)

- As @hodge suggests, looking into disability options for giving up work altogether (for now at least) and focusing on your well-being.


Just throwing these out there - I'm not attached to any of these ideas at all and know they won't all be relevant for you (perhaps none of them will be!)

I wish you all the best with finding the best way forward for yourself.

 

[SeanCharles]

Have you considered applying for disability? I had to do that when I could no longer work. I got a lawyer wh...

In terms of disability lawyers, I will need to re-check to see if we even have any.

 

[SeanCharles]

Our local disability law office is so limited all they do is point a person to a certain website which discusses reasonable accomodations. While this is a possibility, there are circumstances which would only complicate and add additional stress on me.


I am going to do some some heavy research on the Social Security Disability law and follow it!

 

[SeanCharles]

After doing some research I found yet another catch 22!! Until I am proven disabled which I suspect I have done based on my last claim which was denied because of my income, I did read something that cautions quitting work before my claim is approved because of coverage, yes, SSDI is a form of insurance and like paying an insurance premium and missing a payment will cause a loss of coverage, as such the catch 22 is complicated further...

Continuing research....