What would do if you were told you might have to give up your dream career, because of health conditions.

Say you were told some pretty crappy news from the doctor and that was the outcome.

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Luckylu · 61-69, F

I feel very strongly that it was my health that caused me to be selected in a lay off when I was the only one left doing the work that my department did. My workload ended up being moved to people who were paid more than me. Ultimately this led to me never recovering financially, never getting a job that paid as well and I believe it was due to my age and health records. When someone is diagnosed with cancer, even if they are a cancer survivor it effects them for the rest of their lives and no one can tell me differently. The same goes once a person reaches a certain age. It doesn't matter if there is a shortage in their skills, companies won't hire them. They call it forced retirement instead of lay off and it gets around that it is what happened to you and these companies know what it means to be labeled as such. At the time my daughter had just turned 13, barely a teenager, so I had huge responsibilities as a single mother. They didn't care. People will think "well you get child support", well I didn't. I could go into why and the repercussions of the layoff that is still affecting us but I think some will understand while others will not. ALL I can say to people is, tighten up, squirrel away everything you can and start with you very next paycheck. DON'T WAIT. Don't spend money on things you DON'T need until you have squirreled away a portion you get paid each paycheck. Don't use credit cards unless you can pay the full amount each month. Keep your debt to only those huge purchases like a house, and car. If you live somewhere that is too expensive for you to do this, then find somewhere less expensive. Nothing is guaranteed in this life. I took that job for granted and I didn't do what I'm advising here now and yes, I heard this when I was starting out working and didn't do it. I learned this the hard way and I'm still paying for it.

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Luckylu · 61-69, F

@Heartlander
I'm trailing just behind you, have had 3 career changes since that layoff forced the first one. Each one gradually improving my situation until the last one forced another change. I never imagined having to struggle at this time in my life like this.

I hope yours were better than mine.

Heartlander · 80-89, M

@Luckylu those hard turns come on someone else's schedule. Not ours :)

They never call and ask:

"is this a convenient time to yank the rug out from under you?"

"if not, we can try again in 3 or 4 months, or even later."
"Why don't you take a few months to button down the hatches, we'll check back with you later."

Luckylu · 61-69, F

@Heartlander so true. I've gotten to the point that if my life is going good, without any hitches or bumps, then I know the rug will be yanked soon. Never fails.

Heartlander · 80-89, M

Reflecting back on my years as a pilot, airline pilots often carried "loss of license" insurance. I can't remember the premium amounts but it wasn't terribly expensive. All based on health issues that may compromise one's ability to function. Periodic physical exams were required, ranging from every 6 months to longer periods depending on cockpit role. So it was very possible that the next physical exam could be the end of ones dream job. A few pilot friends lost their dream jobs on that next physical exam. But the exams also brought to light serious health issues that within a short time became very serious and debilitating. So, losing the dream job was but a minor distraction to what came next.

exexec · 70-79, C

My nearest experience was when my dream of playing college football died because of an injury. The college trainer would not let me compete. I was devastated until the college baseball coach invited me to play baseball, so all was not lost.

Monalisasmith86 · 41-45, F

@exexec what was the injury that’s dumb a lot of football players get injured but they heal quick that doesn’t mean you can’t continue

exexec · 70-79, C

@Monalisasmith86 It was a knee injury. In the 1960's, diagnosis was difficult, so they couldn't identify it without surgery, and it was only bad enough to keep me from playing "serious" football. I could still run well enough for baseball. I just couldn't cut or run over people like I needed to do for football.

Cigarguy · M

I wouldn't say it was my dream job but my health is one of the reasons I stopped working at a warehouse and got an office job.

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HootyTheNightOwl · 41-45

@HumanEarth You know your way around a keyboard... you can be a secretary/assistant/receptionist.

You could go into content creation, image editing, photography.

HumanEarth · F

I know darkroom photography, my digital photography is super limited. That is @WoWgirll specialized area

HootyTheNightOwl · 41-45

@HumanEarth That's a start, though... you might be able to get your foot in the door by editing photos someone else has taken - and have them train you into digital photography.

You already know the basics of point and press - which is the same with both types of photography... so it's only the settings for effects, etc that you need to learn.

HootyTheNightOwl · 41-45

One thing that might help you is to sit down with a pen and paper (and a nice cup of your preferred non-alcoholic beverage) and write down skills that you've learned in your previous employment that could transfer to other careers.

Try to find examples of project management, problem solving, communication, adaptability and things like that. Once you have that list, you can start looking at careers that these skills might transfer into.

HumanEarth · F

I rather start another business then give Indeed an e-mail. They demand cellphone now and all other on-line job search things.

HootyTheNightOwl · 41-45

@HumanEarth I never mentioned Indeed - or anywhere else for that matter.

You got to that conclusion all by yourself.

I said "Once you have your transferable skills written out, you can start looking at which careers might be a good match for you".

I know for a fact that you can look at listings on Indeed without signing up for the site because I have done it myself. So you can look at the job descriptions and compare them with your list to get a good idea of if your skills will transfer well or not.

That way you can get a list of potential job titles that you could do and use that list to look around yourself locally. Then grumble some more at me because I told you to use something like Indeed to your advantage.