Dealing with Medical Issues in Your Professional Career
A study in Canada found that older people with diabetes and arthritis were 2.5 times more likely to return to the workforce post-retirement than healthy people in the same demographic. This might be a surprising statistic. Returning to the workplace post-retirement is often seen as a decision that is both mentally and physically draining, especially for a person who is dealing with medical issues. However, research shows that the best answer to dealing with health issues that arise as one ages may not be to leave the workplace, but to find the right kind of role.
The Spoon Theory
Christine Miserandino, a writer who is herself a lupus patient, came up with the spoon theory to explain to her friend what it felt like to deal with a chronic health issue. This theory uses the idea that someone suffering from a long-term health condition has a certain number of spoons of energy available to them at the start of every day. Every activity they perform in a day takes away some spoons of energy. This includes big and small activities, from brushing one’s teeth to attending a long, important meeting. People with health issues thus have to figure out how they spend this limited number of spoons of energy they have available, as compared to healthy people who have an unlimited number of spoons in hand each day.
The spoon theory is a good way to understand how to deal with one’s illness because it suggests that what is important when learning about your illness is knowing how many spoons of energy you have at the start of each day. For many, this is a new kind of awareness that they must gain as they age when their health begins to deteriorate. The frustration that comes with medical problems in retirement is often a by-product of this lack of awareness about one’s own body. When one is diagnosed with a health condition, the understanding is that one’s body is changing, it follows then, that one’s awareness about the body too has to change.
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Accepting and Understanding Energy Limitations
Post-diagnosis, the first step might often be to accept that one now only has a limited amount of energy to spend each day. Accepting this will mean prioritizing certain things over others. If work is something a person wishes to prioritize, then they will also have to figure out how best to work using only the number of spoons they are willing to spend on it.
A logical starting point could be to think about the kinds of jobs that are most likely to keep one mentally engaged and interested. If one only has a limited amount of energy, one needs to be choosy about what the energy is being spent on. After this, the next step can be to find the most suitable role. This is where one factor in how many spoons of energy one has to spend. It has to be a role that allows one the flexibility to take sufficient time off. How much time off is sufficient time off will differ from person to person, and health issues will play a role in this. Needing this accommodation does not make one a weaker employee, but an employee who understands their own strengths and needs.
Understanding working with health issues using the spoon theory might offer an explanation for the surprising fact discussed in the beginning. The same Canadian study found that 22-25% of workers with health issues were thinking about retiring early, as compared to only 6% of healthy workers. The same workers who leave their jobs because of health issues are also part of a category that is more likely to return to work after retirement. This could be because, post-retirement, one has the benefit of being able to choose more flexible modes of work like gig work or remote work. These can be a real advantage to people dealing with health issues. Even if one has retired early because of health constraints, returning to work post-retirement might be an entirely different experience and worth trying!