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Anyone out there have a traditional, 8-hours a day, 40 hours a week job?

Anyone out there have a traditional, 8-hours a day, 40 hours a week job?2012-07-18T00:40:29+00:00

The Forums Forums The Workplace ADHD-Friendly Careers Anyone out there have a traditional, 8-hours a day, 40 hours a week job?

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  • #121118

    addjennyb
    Member
    Post count: 1

    No.  I’ve been a flight attendant for the past 12 years which is about as far from traditional office as you can get!  I only got officially diagnosed with ADD early this year despite my long-held suspicions.  I have no idea how to thrive in a traditional office setting, though my life is definitely challenged too.  Being a flight attendant has enabled me to thrive in my negative patterns for a very long time.  It had been a lovely escape from all of your tedious day-to-day chores/tasks.  Aside from being side-lined from flying due to a worker’s comp injury for 10 months, I haven’t spent more than two weeks in one place in over a decade.  For several years I started to feel anxious if I didn’t have immediate plans to either work or go somewhere for a personal trip.  I couldn’t stand the thought of being in the same place every day, all day!

    Now though, I am tiring of life on the go.  It is a source of tension on my home life, and I’m ready to hang up my wings.  My ideal plan is to launch a business that I’ve been working on for the past year and a half.  While that hasn’t picked up the traction I had hoped it would by now, I’m looking at the dreaded office job to bridge the gap between the two.  I’m hopeful the structure of a day to day regular schedule will assist in helping me to create positive routines to quell my negative symptoms.  Right now, I’m trying to manage some semblance of organization while having fluctuating starts and ends to my day, being in different time zones, and being too exhausted to try to manage my ADD when I do have the time.  Once I DO get my business off of the ground, I won’t have the trappings of the traditional office job.  It’s mostly online and I will still travel, but it will be limited to when I can conveniently schedule it around my home needs as well as being less frequent than my current schedule.

    Good luck to all of those out there who are trying to manage at work!  I’m unfortunately well-known for being late.  There are some trips that I’m better about being on time than others, but it’s a daily struggle for me…

     

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    #121221

    Fabulous
    Member
    Post count: 173
    #121305

    distractedmomma
    Member
    Post count: 55

    I was actually thinking about this recently. I’ve never had a full time job (other than Summer employment) since forever! I’ve often had 2 part time jobs while in university (selling undergarments and teaching a class at the university…definitely not boring lol). Although I hate to admit it, I am easily bored and often daydream. I’ve never been fired, probably because I went out of my way to make up for my shortcomings by doing extra work or never saying no. Now I’m a stay at home mom and a part time photographer…oh and I also help my hubby with his business (a tiny bit). See, still doing different things at the same time!

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    #121311

    jojosephine
    Member
    Post count: 62

    @sdwa (sorry I am late-new to site). I am a freelance graphic (multimedia) designer. and there is no way i would be able to support myself with this. I can only do this because I am a stay at home mom (quit job to do so). and the freelance is part time (just supplementary income). The worst part is the business stuff, and having to meet clients face to face or on the phone. I wish I had someone to just do all that for me. I just can’t afford to pay someone.

    @distractedmomma I left my job a year ago (which I had only been at for 2 yrs  –  1/2 that time on maternity leave) to raise my now 2 and 4 yr old. I feel guilt in doing it but I love being home with them. and I can do a lot of creative things as well. I just can’t let go of the guilt of being able to do this right now. I always say “if I don’t do this now I will regret it later”. I am scared for the time my kids don’t need me as much and I have to get back out there again. Will my skills be gone? Will I be that much more of a recluse? etc… I really want to connect with more stay at home mommas who have these same thoughts, it would be nice to know I am not alone.

    How is everyone’s resumes out there? Mine are full of lies and half-truths (Excellent Organizational skills or the strong ability to multi-task-HA HA HA) not to mention my work history. I cant do another resume again. ARG.

    Yep, the key it to fine something you absolutely love and have extreme interest in. Research, Art, music, whatever..I think maybe then you might be able to work 8 hrs/day 40 hrs/week …maybe.

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    #121325

    Arthurpod
    Member
    Post count: 5

    I have a 40 hour a week job. In an office! IN A CUBE! And I quite like it. I believe finding the right company to work for is more important than what you do.

    I struggled for years doing work I loved (engineering) in a rigid rule-worshipping “Dilbert hole.” Now I work for a way more progressive company that actually encourages oddness. No boring meetings! No dress code! Flexible hours! And my boss works at a different office, 500 miles away!

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    #121327

    dithl
    Participant
    Post count: 158

    @jojosephine and others pondering this whole being able to make it in the world of work thing….

    I fully, absolutely believed that I would never be able to manage full-time work. I did the mom thing right off the bat, so didn’t have a whole bunch of work experience to draw from. But I spent my entire 20s and half of my 30s comparing myself to other working parents, and truly believed that part-time is all I would ever be able to manage. And imperfectly at that. Even before my diagnosis. I just thought that the whole working parent thing was a hoax, a trap to keep people unhappy but productive, part of the big economic machine, or whatever justifications I came up with in order to keep myself from feeling like I wasn’t living up to my potential. (It has been such a ground shift for me that it’s difficult to remember how I used to think).

    I have to say that one of the most amazing, defining times of my life was realizing that I CAN! The year that the impossible became real.

    True ADD – fashion, the realization came because it was a sink-or-swim situation. I began my first full-time career almost exactly one month after finding myself on my own, with 2 children to take care of, after 15 years of a fairly co-dependent marriage. I was terrified of losing our home. Failing at my work was simply not an option for me. I was extremely fortunate to have landed a job that fit and brought me together with wonderfully supportive colleagues.

    Lots more detail than that, but I just wanted to share because that experience really taught me how powerful our thought patterns are. “Positive thinking” can sound so trite, but it literally changed my reality. I had help from amazing people who kept me thinking that I could do it. And boy, I did it!

    I love my job and I struggle with juggling my two passions (my loves at home and my “borrowed loves” at work.) I am far from perfect at what I do and at times I feel like my house is falling down around my ears. But the question is no longer “Can I or can’t I work and be a good mom?”. Now it’s “What changes might I need to make in order to make life more balanced?”

    @jojo, I was lucky enough to be able to get by without working too much when my kiddos were young. It’s awesome, and no, you never get that time back, so enjoy them while you got ’em! (My stinkers refuse to be 3 years old again. I sure miss those times). Trust “Other You” to be able to handle things when it’s time to get back into the workforce, and try to stay in the moment. Thanks for letting me wander through my memories, your story has really struck a chord.

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    #121333

    blackdog
    Member
    Post count: 906

    I have always worked low paying jobs with low expectations, when I work at all. When I was younger  I never had steady work. I did telemarketing (would rather starve than to that again), delivered papers, did customer surveys, door to door sales….never for more than a couple of months.

    I managed to keep my present job for 6 years but I was only hanging on by a thread for the last two. Started at 40 hrs/wk and ended up at 20. Stress at work and in my personal life increased dramatically, I got depressed, and I started to slip, often being as much as 20 minutes late and forgetting to do things that I needed to do. They gave me my notice a couple of weeks ago. Which didn’t make me sad because I was bored stiff and desperately wanted to get out of there anyway. Just would have preferred to do it on my own terms. But I have always been too stupid to quit before I get fired.

    My plan for the next few months is to collect EI and try to get my house organized while I continue to work on getting my depression under control. Hopefully I will be ready to return to work by the time the benefits run out.

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