Managing your virtual assistant business while also managing a chronic illness
Updated: Aug 26
It may be the very reason you actually start your business! Read on.
My heart failed for the first time in 2005, again in 2008, and again in 2011. In between those years, I was either on disability (through an employer if I was well enough to work at all) or dependant upon family as I applied for and was repeatedly denied Socal Security disability. Truth is, I didn't want to rely on disability benefits. I wanted to work. I wanted to be productive. I wanted to have a reason to get up everyday and feel "normal" in spite of dealing with Congestive Heart Failure, Type II Diabetes, Asthma and major depression all at once.
I needed to work. I just needed to work differently, while also managing a chronic illness.
It took a while -- and several returns to Corporate America -- before I was able to jump into my business full-time. What I'd started in 2001 was finally coming to fruition. I'm now able to work a schedule that allows me to manage my illnesses on my own terms. I'm only on 6 prescribed medications (down from14 when I first became ill in 2005). I have managed to lose over the years around 100 pounds. And best of all? I'm able to get up when my body is ready to get up (my official workday begins at 10AM ET), take a long nap every single afternoon (I talk about it all the time to my virtual assistant mentees and in podcast interviews), or even rearrange or cancel my day altogether if I'm not feeling well
Are you living with a chronic illness? Do you battle everyday just to get out of bed? Do you do so with the sinking feeling that you are underperforming because, frankly, you just don't feel well physically or mentally? Been there.
Which is why I am such an advocate for the virtual assistance industry! It's the reason I've kept a presence in it even when I was in Corporate America. It gives me my dignity as a productive member of society. It keeps my brain active, my spirits lifted, and my bills paid. Amen.
It can do the very same for you!
Let me know your thoughts.
