On working with long-term illness

Yesterday I took a sick day from work, because the day before, I had been suffering the symptoms of a recently diagnosed autoimmune disease. Most people I know solider on with their ailments when working, so the idea of taking a day off for recovery is probably unusual. But with increasing number of people still with post covid fatigue and a 40% increase in auto immune diseases in the post-covid community, I wanted to talk about how to manage this.

I'm a freelancer / consultant with income from a mix of sources including hourly, retainer and employment contract. I'm lucky that I get a certain amount of paid sick days through the latter but I also budget for (in hours and daily fee) my sickness and holiday pay too. If you're not doing that, (or if you've not negotiated a pay rise since the cost of living hikes) do consider this as a priority and reach out if you want tips on how to do that. ?

If you're new to managing long covid or an autoimmune disease you're probably like me, still working out what your energy levels are and what your triggers are. In this case it pays to have time built into your schedule for planning your workload across clients more carefully than usual, ?including contingency for if you have a bad day and rest time between tasks. I try to work in maximum of 60-minute blocks with 30 minutes rest in between. This can be active rest like doing the dishes or it can be lying on the sofa. I have ?a simple work planner for layering my clients’ deadlines, my work priorities and my lifestyle over the top of each other so I can see the busy times. This is really important if you have travel, childcare commitments or even something as simple as an intense nutrition regime that means no more pizza on busy days.

Quiet nagging stress can be a drain; the fear that you’ll wake up and feel awful, that you'll flag mid-day, that you'll be ill in a Zoom call. I always have contingencies in place. My business partner and husband know where my work is saved, who each client is, and any major deadlines. This means if I simply cannot get out of bed (which is very unlikely, but it’s still something I quietly worry about), I know someone can reach my clients. I break each task for a client down into component parts in my planner so I can rest well, knowing I have left enough time (and some) to meet deadlines.

Communication is really important as well and something I am still working on. How do you tell l your clients you have these incredible back up plans and symptoms which you hope never to use, while also reassuring them you are up to the job and making sure they understand your needs. Being clear about deadlines and time zones even for the smallest thing is so important when you're managing a long term disease. Let them know early on if you feel a deadline is at risk or unachievable. ?Gone are the days when you knew you could pull an all-nighter to save the client's last minute demands. A good client will respect you for more than just that single activity and want you in best health for the duration of the assignment. Communicate well and respect should come back. If it doesn’t, that's not the client you want to work with.

I'd love to hear other people's tips for managing their freelance or remote working life with an auto-immune or other long term disease. And I salute those of you have been working like this for all of your lives, well before hybrid working and disease became the norm to talk about. If you’re a woman aged over 40, long covid and autoimmune diseases are affecting us disproportionately so please share; I don’t want to become a LinkedIn sensation but there might be someone out there quietly trying to work this out alone who might appreciate the post.?