SA and Jobs/Careers

[Hundred]

When I left school at 16 I chose a job that I felt able to cope with as it involved minimum contact with people, and openplan (not closed in) environment etc, at the time it was a great choice as i felt so comfortable there, now 8 years on and many similar jobs later I see theres no future (for many reasons) in that line of work.

I have a fair idea of what I now want to do (I want to re-train and hope to become a teacher), but its not easy to weight up what I would like to do as a career and what I am capable of doing as a career.

Teaching is one of several future jobs/careers that interest me but all the jobs that interest me invole being in closed in, close contact with others.

Ok my SA and depression is not as "in ya face" as it once was but it does still cause me struggles.

How do you weigh up what you want to do and what you can do?

[G-1]

Originally Posted by Hundred

but its not easy to weight up what I would like to do as a career and what I am capable of doing as a career.

This is something I often wonder too.....

[Dandelion10]

I'm at a point where I'm looking for limited people contact jobs/lone worker jobs to actually have a chance to earn a proper wage and support myself. Anything else will run me into the ground.

[WelshKat]

I'm in a bit of a similar situation. I'm currently unemployed and "looking" for a job but I doubt my ability to do the jobs that I apply for. In the last year, I've had two jobs which have challanged me and have involved a lot of contact with the public. Whilst I've progressed quite a lot and gained more confidence, there are some sticking points which were really effecting me in both jobs - to the point where I was working myself up big time.

So I'm not sure what to do. I think I'm going to have to go back to the doctor's and ask for some help by way of CBT or medication. But what I'm also wondering is, should I go for a job I know I'm going to have problems with? Or should I challenge myself, because it's only through confronting my fears that I'll progress.

At the moment, I'm going for jobs that won't trigger my anxiety but I don't want to do that for the rest of my life. Confused.

There's also the problem of wanting a secure job and being able to support myself 'cos at the moment I'm leeching off my parents and that's not a good feeling at all.

[Jop]

Originally Posted by halfemptyglass

I'm in my first few weeks of teaching, and it really is a rewarding career... having said that, I got up at 6.30 this morning and left school at 6.30 when the caretaker kicked me out.

Specifically about teaching... you don't spend much time in close contact with other adults, which is one of the things that appealed to me about the job. Obviously you are up in front of kids a lot, which for a lot of people here would be a nightmare - but for me I find it really confidence-boosting. Kids don't make me anxious at all, because I don't want to be friends with them, so I don't worry about them judging me.

I actually chose teaching as a back-up, because I was too anxious to go into a job where I had to work with other adults - I much prefer working with kids. And even if I don't stay in teaching (because of the workload, or challenging behaviour etc) I still want to work with children rather than be trapped in an office with a load of adults that make me anxious.

But your original question - you'll never know unless you try. So go for it, and if it really is too difficult, at least you had a go.
Hope that helped a bit!

from what you said, its seems to get a good job. You need to know your limitations with respect to your SA. When it is activated and how. It varies between us based on our own presumptions