Why work?

I want to work.

As I started to lose my vision I knew that it would be very difficult to remain in a workforce that is very competitive. I needed something to give me an edge.

One of my greatest fears as I was losing my vision is that I would end up as a greeter in a discount store. Those jobs don’t even exist anymore. So even that avenue is shut down to me and all others aspiring for that rung on the ladder of success.

Having a degree in the blindness field has given me some limited access to this community. The jobs are still out there but they too are very competitive. I am now competing with the sighted and the non-sighted for a chance at the elusive jobs.

This, refreshingly enough, is true of everyone looking for work. It is a competitive world and I want to compete.

The types of jobs that I have seen in the blindness field are that of a Vision Rehabilitation Counselor or Teacher, Teaching children with visual Impairments, Technical Expertise support and Orientation and Mobility. I might have missed a few subsets but these are the big arenas of work to be found in the Blindness field.

I can do three of the five listed.

Why do a lot of my posts lately talk about working and the value that we put on it and ourselves with regard to society and how we are measured?

Many years ago I had a small vision of a dream that I wanted to fulfill. I have that chance now to try it with all the gusto I can muster. What holds me back? Fear of succeeding. That is the only thing I can think of. It can’t be the fear of failure as if it doesn’t work out than so what. What if I try and it does work out.

It almost feels like I am dragging my feet to see how miserable I can feel about my job prospects when I hold the answer in my dreams that are clearly within reach.

Today is that day. I set aside all the things society says about my chances of succeeding and make it happen for myself.

I will do the paperwork necessary to move forward.

I will cut out the patterns necessary to make my product.

I will align the help I will need and then followed through.

The faster I get this going and started the faster I can get off the treadmill of trying to find a job where others tell me which of my skills would be valued.

I am never more valuable to myself than when I am trying to be the true me.

I like who I am. I like who I have become. I like that I see things differently.

Someone very dear to me paid me the kindest complement that I had ever received. She said that I take the challenges that come my way and use them as learning opportunities and not stumbling blocks. I try. So I am going to stop stumbling around and get to the work I know I am supposed to be doing.

Blessings, Denise

From the writer of seeingdifferences.com