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If you are working, what careers are you in?

NAS71377
over 3 years ago

I'd like to find a job that doesn't make me constantly overstimulated, overwhelmed and fatigued, but is also intellectually challenging. I absolutely love learning. Has anyone found a role that works for them?

Parents
  • over 3 years ago

    Hi, NAS, what a great question! Thanks for posing it.

    I work as a teacher, which is apparently an unusual profession for people with Autism. My psychologist has gently and in a completely non-pressuring way suggested to me that I consider changing careers in order to avoid burnout. This, after I’ve disclosed to her that I feel burnout coming soon and that I don’t foresee being able to maintain this career for long.

    In the meantime, I have been able to survive full-time teaching by pursuing roles in which I work in quite a specialist capacity and do not have to work as part of a team or a large team. Instead, I seek positions in which I am ideally in a department of one (just me) or two teachers, and where what I do is so specialized that I don’t have a lot of involvement from school administrators.

    With that being said, I previously worked in the social work field and much preferred those roles, particularly when I could work one-on-one with clients in quiet settings. Sometimes I think about doing that again starting this fall, but it’s a bit of a balancing act because it pays about 70%  of what I make now. If I had a spouse things would be easier because I would have his income as well, but because I’m single this has been a bit of a challenge for me to figure out.

    Ultimately I believe my wellness matters more than money, so who knows where I’ll be, perhaps as early as this fall.

    Thanks for listening!

    Elizabeth

  • over 3 years ago in reply to Elizabeth

    The 1:1 work is where I thrive in social work too. My difficulties are around meetings with multiple professionals. If every contact in my life could be 1:1 then I would feel so much happier! 

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