5 STEP PROCESS TO ACHIEVE CLARITY FOR YOUR CAREER & PERSONAL GOALS | SMart Choice Lifestyle

I've always had an eclectic way of seeing things. I draw my inspiration from an incredible array of sources, time periods and industries. It's like I'm building a never ending vision board for my life and career. 

AWARENESS FIRST

Thankfully I had a constant throughout: thinking in pictures. I draw out the way all my ideas are going to look, act and what purpose are they going to serve and need are they going to take care of. The natural outcome was that I ended up pursuing a creative career, dealing with images and stories. Hence, I decided that I am a visual storyteller. 

Becoming aware of your talents and the skills that can help you move forward is essential if you want to grow a career out of just a passion. "Passion" is such an emotion-filled word. "What you're naturally good at and enjoy doing" sounds better. But for the sake of word economy, let's continue naming it "passion".

Being multi-passionate and loving to do many things can become confusing if you don't spend time working out the bits and pieces that will help you understand what career should you really follow. Most of us finish school and immediately get a job. "That's the safe thing to do!" common sense tells us. Sounds fair, and for many of us, it ends up being their road in life. And that's completely fine and normal. It's their choice and if it makes them happy, go for it!

MY DREAMS AND MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

I was the other kind. The one that had the regular 9-5 job, but had her mind on creative projects almost all of the time. Given the situation, I kept the things I loved to do as hobbies and tried my best to integrate them into my daily work tasks. Every time I got the chance to do one of them, I felt happy. That feeling went away when I got back to whatever I was working on.

For a long while, I thought it to be normal. We all have jobs that get us tired and hobbies that help us refresh and get us back on track. And so a few years passed and while I was working, I always thought of starting my own thing on the side. The dream of building my own business doing what I loved never left me. 

The decisive moment that completely shifted my actions was the 25th of July 2014, the day the neurologist told me that I had Multiple Sclerosis. In less than 24 hours, all my thoughts pointed to living my life the way I always wanted and making my dreams a reality. Even more so, wanting to continue working equaled pursuing my passion. My time was limited. Nobody knew by how much or less. The illness is unpredictable, so I have to hurry! 

There was no turning back after that. After just a week back at the office, I listened to my gut and left. It no longer provided me with anything rather than monthly pay. I chose my health over money. And so I started my sabbatical. Taking time to clear my head after the diagnosis, learn as much as I could about the disease, find ways in which to keep it inactive and most of all follow my dream career.

Do you know that feeling of liking so many things that you can't really decide which one to really pursue? Or, if you had narrowed in down to two or three areas, it's still difficult to start because for each one there are SO many things that you can say or do? Welcome to my world!

The funny thing is that I already know what I want to do (and I kindda knew it for more than 7 years now), but there's always something left to do, improve or wait to be the right moment for. Up until a few months ago, I thought it to be fear of failure. But no. Failure doesn't scare me for quite a while now. I mean, what's the worse it can happen? I already have an incurable disease! (*smiling ironically here*)

The fear of not being good enough isn't it either, as I managed to get passed peer pressure too. The thing is I find it difficult to decide. And that's so funny, because the blog is named SMart Choice, so technically, I should have mastered the decision making process by now. But not in the things I hold dear to my heart.

And so my one year sabbatical became two years, and the more I learned and the more ideas I had, the worse I became at deciding to start. I had it all planned on paper, all organized, but no action. Constant learning. An eternal student. I like learning, but I also like to be productive. 

The biggest lesson that I've learned these past two years is that you can't work on your dreams if you don't know the dreamer. Meaning that you first have to come back to knowing who you are and then see what you can do for work. 

HOW TO ACHIEVE CLARITY FOR YOUR GOALS - 5 STEP PROCESS

That's why I came up with this 5 step process that you can also take to get in touch with your true self, or at least with your inner motivations and ideas that make you uniquely you, helping with your career goals.

So, without further adue, here are the steps that get you closer to yourself. You'll need a piece of paper and a few minutes to write things down.

1. DEFINE THE CONTEXT

Find a picture of yourself as a kid. Look at it and try to remember who you were back then. Asses your current lifestyle choices, the things you're naturally good at, the skills you've learned throughout the years and see where you stand. What's the thing (or things) that have remained a constant? Note them down and move on to the second step...

2. WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR AND WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR LEGACY TO BE?

Note down your core values (limit yourself to just 5, the most important ones). After a life spent working, what would you like to be remembered for? What are the most important things that you leave behind as a professional?

3. ALIGN GOALS TO PERSONALITY AND VALUES?

Make a list of goals that you want to achieve during this lifetime. Be specific in naming them. No matter how big or unimportant they seem, they are part of your vision, so note them down. Given the values and legacy that you've decided upon already, how do you plan to achieve those goals? Define a short strategy. What choices will you need to make in order to achieve those goals?

4. DAILY ACTION PLANNING

Achieving mastery or anything in life means discipline and work. All the people that got somewhere with their lives and careers have to (and most still are) work hard to get their goal. You'll need a plan. Make it simple, actionable and daily. Think of the bigger picture and then narrow it down to what are the daily tasks that you need to do in order to get where you want to. Start with the first goal on your list and go from there. Then act upon that plan, but...

5. FOLLOW-UP AND REVIEW

To know how far you've came, you need to do regular reviews and measurements. Nothing fancy, just, for example, see how much of Project X is done and what's left to do. You need to know what you need to do, in order to plan your day and efficiently dose your energy, especially when living with Multiple Sclerosis.

Liked this post? Subscribe HERE, to be sure we stay connected. Let me know if you’d want me to write a more extensive piece on this topic, or on smaller topics from it. Would love to hear your opinion on this! Leave your comments down below.

Sincerely,

Denisa

Neurologic Diseases: Can They Happen To You? Some Facts About How Society Should Be Dealing With Them

We drift away throughout our lives, trying to please others or our own expectations built upon what we learned that society expects of us. This is not an obvious thing for many, but it pops out when you go through a major setback that makes you review your whole life plan.

We are so anchored in what other people might say of us, in the fear of being treated like an outsider, in that feeling that we might one day be rejected. We do things because it’s been done before, because that’s what people around us or people our age do.

We work ourselves up to put up with an external standard that a lot of times seems so alien to us. This gets revealed to us in the most unexpected ways, but most of the times if comes out as rebellion, frustration or a lack of purpose.

Although we live pretty busy and full lives, something is missing. We get the feeling that something is not quite as it’s supposed to be. Most of us live our whole lives and still don’t find out what that thing is. Hence the disbelief in things like “find your purpose!”, “unleash your potential!”. These are strange things to say when we live pretty decent and fullfilling lives.

But that’s the trick! How much of these decent and fulfilling lives do we really enjoy? How much of these daily activities really make us feel like it’s worth something?

You might be familiar with the feeling you get when you help someone just because he or she needed it. Or when you take the time to listen to a friend who has a major problem and just be there, ready with a kind word and a hug. These type of moments have the power to make you feel at peace. You get that feeling that you’ve done the right thing. Now take that feeling and pass it through each and every activity you do throughout your day. See how that feels. Do you get the same results? Do you feel the same? It’s ok if you don’t. Many people find themselves in the same situation.

Society educates us to be good members of it. It teaches us how to behave, what to believe and what not to do. In order to fit in. And except a few things that spice us up and that we call personality, all that we have is society-crafted.

We are promised a rich life, full of possibilities, products and chances. But is when we face losing all of these things that we get a taste of what society really does. It selects only the useful and productive individuals and discards the others that don’t fit the pattern.

People with chronic neurological illnessess are clearly not fitting that pattern. They become a liability for the social system.

Let’s get a few concepts straight.

What are neurological diseases?

A quote from the World Health Organization explains it all:

“Neurological disorders are diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system. In other words, the brain, spinal cord, cranial nerves, peripheral nerves, nerve roots, autonomic nervous system, neuromuscular junction, and muscles. These disorders include epilepsy, Alzheimer disease and other dementias, cerebrovascular diseases including stroke, migraine and other headache disorders, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, neuroinfections, brain tumours, traumatic disorders of the nervous system such as brain trauma, and neurological disorders as a result of malnutrition.
Mental disorders, on the other hand, are "psychiatric illnesses" or diseases which appear primarily as abnormalities of thought, feeling or behaviour, producing either distress or impairment of function.
Hundreds of millions of people worldwide are affected by neurological disorders. Approximately 6.2 million people die because of stroke each year; over 80% of deaths take place in low- and middle-income countries. More than 50 million people have epilepsy worldwide. It is estimated that there are globally 35.6 million people with dementia with 7.7 million new cases every year - Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia and may contribute to 60–70% of cases. The prevalence of migraine is more than 10% worldwide.”

Dissabilities mean costs, and society has a sore spot for that. And not just only that, but the actual cost for a business that employs a dissabled person looks to be in danger in this situation.

But they have it all wrong! There is an actual bigger cost if you put people on wellfare instead of helping and accommodating them to keep their jobs or make a living fo themselves. Think about all the people that have to financially sustain a dissability cost through their monthly tax contribution. Think about the actual costs of the dissabled person: medical care, facillities and money to help that person pull through life. That cost is actually adding up to be higher than allowing dissabled people to keep working or open their own business.

“Workplace interventions can lead to large gains, both in the short and long term, for employees and employers. Improvements can be seen in worker productivity, reduced levels of absenteeism, and employer cost-saving. These interventions have the added benefit of creating a workplace environment that is health-conscious, providing for easier follow-up with participants.”

(read full WHO.int report here)

Because, let me tell you: people don’t change at all after getting a neurological chronic illness. Neither after they actually get disabled. Ok, they might be a little more changed, but those differences are just emotional, the intellect of that person doesn’t get affected in all diseases. There are a few exceptions, like Alzheimer’s, dementia and so on, but what about the rest?

How can you tell a person that has been working all his or her’s life to be independent and to make a career that you have no place for him or her now that he/she’s ill? How is that fair?

Society runs away from difficult situations. It prefers to be a functional machine that keeps the system into place for as long as it can. But if you throw away people who have chronic illnesses, as a society, you’ll end up with more spare parts than an actual functional machine. You’ll get broken. You’ll stop working.

These people might not be the thing that you need or are used to, but with the number of chronically diagnosed people getting higher as the years come by, we’re facing a real problem of not being able to live a sustainable life as a society anymore.

“The health of the world is generally improving, with fewer people dying from infectious diseases and therefore in many cases living long enough to develop chronic diseases. Increases in the causes of chronic diseases, including unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and tobacco use are leading to people developing chronic diseases at younger ages in the increasingly urban environments of low and middle income countries. Disturbing evidence of this impact in many of these countries is steadily growing. They are ill equipped to handle the demands for care and treatment that chronic diseases place on their health systems and so people die at younger ages than in high income countries.” 

(read full WHO.int report here)

So what’s there to do? Accept. Adapt. Overcome.

Accept that we have this situation. It has been a public health challenge since 10 years ago. Adapt the social system to it. Overcome the future societal disfunctionality.

Avoid the day when you’ll find yourself in the same situation. It’s uncomfortable, I know! But little did I know almost two years ago when I was happily working in sales that it will all change as I got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Although it’s not an easy thing to go through, because of all the possible stigmatization and rejections you might face (among other things), it helped me to see the bigger picture.

I’m sure the fact of being a licenced sociologist helped with analyzing society, but it was the emotional part that did the trick. It’s awful to feel like society doesn’t really care about any of us. It’s an eye opener that we are our own safety nets. In the end, relationships are all we have. And in the most desperate cases, even these ones fail, and people are left behind. Are discarded. Just because we don’t teach people about these conditions, their implications and how to manage them.

How did the world become such an awful place to live in? We have expressions like “survival of the fittest” and “the law of nature” to describe the natural selection on which nature thrives.

But what happens when the fittest is not you because you get a dissabling disease? What happens when the law of nature gets you in a wheelchair? Does the world seem fair and just then? Are those beliefs doing you justice?

We must understand that although the strongest are the ones who survive, we are human beings which have a heart and feelings. Helping people to have a chance, to reintegrate them back in the social system or to keep them there for as long as possible is the honorable thing to do.

I’m gonna stop this article now, before my eyes get all blurry because of my tears.

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Until next time, make the SMart Choices that suit your lifestyle!

Love,

Alexandra

How to Keep Working While Living With Multiple Sclerosis - #SMartWednesday

Last year I was telling you about my plans of starting a business while living with MS. Today I’m going further on, and begin talking about how I think of making it a reality. I hope sharing my story can inspire you to do great work yourself.

The first thing I learned in my journey so far, is that you need to focus on your strenghts, on what you can and love doing. All the rest is weighing you down from achieving your goals, be them career or personal ones. We are all good at something, or do some things especially well. Think about what you love doing and what are you really good at, what do people always compliment you on.

Money and financial security keep you healthy and basically alive, as they provide for all that helps you going on living from month to month. But on the long run, are they really worth your health, mental clarity and emotions?

Adjust your current conditions at work. Talk to your employer about what your needs are and what can you both do to continue having a productive and healthy collaboration. If all this fails, go back to your main resource: yourself.

Invest time into searching for a new job or take a leap of faith and start your own thing. Read here some of the conclusions of the twittchat #WorkOutMS that I was on last year, organised by shift.ms and the European Multiple Sclerosis Platform. You'll find it useful.

By age 25-30 you are certainly very good at something. Think how you can transform that into a product or service and start your own business. But start small and gradually go upwards. It’s going to be hard at times, but think that the alternative can be having no job at all, and not being able to contribute to your family’s income. You have MS. Can starting a business scare you more?

Of course, there are also the cases when you can’t move, or have a mobility issue. As long as you can write, speak and express yourself, you can do it. There are tens of examples of people with major disabilities who have made it through and established a name for themselves. Prove society wrong! You are a perfectly gifted individual, who has a lot to offer to the world. Be that only your MS experience. Write about it, turn it into a workshop… You know best what you’re good at.

For me, I decided last year to focus on my writing skills, on portrait photography and on developing my yoga practice. The business I’m starting is all about visual storytelling and family portrait photography. Starting this while I dedicate the rest of my time to writing and developing my yoga practice (planning to become an instructor someday).

This is one of many articles to come regarding work issues and how to start and manage a business while living with multiple sclerosis. It’s a broad subject and a passionate one for me, as I always was an independent spirit who loved to do things my own way, and help people along the way. You will be seeing more of this topic! Hope you like it!

Tell me your story! Subscribe for more upcoming articles!

Love,

Alexandra

December 2015 - Monthly Favorites & Inspiration - #LifestyleFriday

This is the part where I tell you all about my December favorites and inspiration sources. Let’s get to it!

The first thing I want to mention is Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Big Magic”. And a big magic...al book it is! If you ever wanted to boost your creative activities or career whilst accepting and getting over the fear of failure, this is the book for you. It’s part motivational, part self-disclosure, as Liz takes us through examples of her own life and what has she learned about the ongoing battle between creativity and fear. The book was the gift I gave myself for turning 30.

Besides her, other inspirational people I learned a lot from were Gary Vaynerchuk and Tony Robbins and Marie Forleo. Such motivational and hard-working people!

Another important staple of my month was a recap of all the Star Wars movies. My boyfriend persuaded me into getting to know/remember what the story of Vader and Skywalker is. We awakened the Force by watching them in chronological order. As we saw little Anakin grow up and bit by bit turn into Lord Vader, I couldn’t help but to think of how similar the message is to budhism and the no violence philosophy!

That leads us to the next favorite.

Yoga played a huge role in my life for this month also. I have been doing Vinyasa Yoga for more than a year now, every single day. This month, as it was all rushed and had loads of things to do, I was fine with doing only about 10 minutes of it with or without the help of my lovely Adriene Mishler (Yoga With Adriene on Youtube) during my morning routine and then going off to my other tasks. But don’t be mislead: a little yoga goes a loooong way! It’s more about connecting to your body and easing up the mind, making your day more at ease.

The way I managed the holiday stress and my MS was by sticking to meditating for at least 20 minutes a day (10 min in the morning and 10 min in the evening, before I went to bed). It allowed me to let go of all the December cheer that was too much at some point. Taking time to clear your mind and relax the body does wonders for your overall wellbeing. Plus you get to find out how well (or not) you react if an itch happens while you’re standing still! True story! Seriously now, in time, it teaches you how to be patient and don’t react to every tiny thing that happens to you. It teaches you acceptance and how to become more at peace with yourself.

Every morning, just after I got out of bed, I went into the kitchen and made myself a glass of lemon water. Cut a lemon in half, squeeze one of it, pour it into about 500 ml of water and drink it all then and there. It cleanses and hidrates your body from the inside out, kickstarting the metabolism and making you feel better. Can’t stand the taste of lemon? Put about 1-2 teaspoons of honey. Morning lemonade. Enjoy! I forgot to mention tangerines and oranges! The only fruit that make the house smell like Christmas when you open them.

As I mentioned before, I’m opening my own business, in spite of dealing with a diagnosis like multiple sclerosis. December was the month I always decide to relax and unwind so that I come back strong the following year. I worked so hard throughout the year and my mind needed a rest from all that. What use am I to this blog if I get exhausted? 

So, starting from the 21th of December, I layed back, got the Christmassy mood on and enjoyed some well-deserved time with family and friends. I thought and did most of the things that I love, not forgetting to express my gratitude for the wins, blessings and life lessons I received throughout 2015.

This was all for this week’s #LifestyleFriday and for 2015 posts! 
Thanks for being here!

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Love,

Alexis

How I Plan To Start a Business While Having Multiple Sclerosis - #LifestyleFriday

This #LifestyleFriday we deal with the impact multiple sclerosis has on young individuals careers and how I dealt with the situation. Keep on reading.

Work is an important part of my life. It gives me something to do, something to contribute to society, it supports me financially. It even defines my identity and self-worth. That’s why, when I got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, I entered mourning. I grieved not only my long lost health, but the future of my job and/or career. What will it happen now?

I basically grabbed the bull by its horns and took the matter into my own hands. After receiving the diagnosis, I simply told my employer what my situation was like and that was that. If he cared, he cared, if he didn’t … he didn’t. For me it was the second option so I left.

I decided to get that out of the way as soon as possible so that I could focus on my health and future. Why struggle with hiding an incurable, chronic and potentially debilitating illness? The stress of nondisclosure was not worth it in the long run.

STOP AND ANALYZE OPTIONS

If the employer is a person that values skill and mastery, he would probably understand that helping you work in good conditions is advantageous both for him and for you. It’s a win-win situation. If he doesn’t understand anything than profit, understand him in return, and leave. It’s the best choice you can make.

OK, you may want to keep your job because you like it and it earns you a good pay. That’s it? Money over health? Because you can take your passion and start something on your own.

Why live in constant stress and tension just for a paycheck? I personally don’t understand that. It’s only a material thing and as all of its kind, it’s volatile. OK, I understand that you have bills to pay and a life to maintain. The thing that you really fear losing is your independence and self-worth. We live in a world where self-achievement and careers are top of the game and we easily identify with work-related successes.

But to what end? You lose your time, your relationships and eventually your health doing what? Working to fulfill some other person’s dream and fortune? And above that you also live with multiple sclerosis? Stop doing that right now! Just stop it!

Are you a puppet that acts only when being directed by the pupeteer, or are you a talented human being that can put its talents to good use and live a life working on and with its passion? You’ve got this far by mastering your skills and being recognized for that at your workplace.

What makes you talented? What do you enjoy and are good at doing?

Think how can you monetize your talent, gather a team and start your own dream. If you are passionate working in a certain area, why not work for yourself? It will be hard at first, but the rewards are far higher. You are the master of your own schedule, are using your skills to the fullest, have the opportunity to make your own choices and set prices. And most of all you are at peace with your situation. 

Being calm is one of the most important things when you manage life with multiple sclerosis. Let me get things clear: having your own business is not a peaceful and serene environment, it involves responsibility, stress and dealing with challenging situations. But it is worth it, as you have the freedom in working by your own rules and terms.

WHAT ARE MY PLANS?

That was my own approach in choosing to work with multiple sclerosis. I am passionate about designing projects, I constantly have new ideas and enjoy my daily schedule. As of a year now, I have been staying at home, taking a break to sort out my mind around the new path I must follow for my life from now on. It was  a breath of fresh air, as I came to terms with many of my issues and have grown in so many areas. Details about those in articles to come.

But that year was over at the end of this summer and I am now officially bored. Not selfishly bored, but in the sense that I want to be of use to people, to be able to provide value and use my skills and knowledge to make a change for the better in people’s lives.

SMart Choice Lifestyle started as a platform where I can be open about my multiple sclerosis journey and where I can help you make the right choices in living a healthy lifestyle, choices that through becoming habits will surely change your life for the better.

This platform is a result of my internal struggles and self-analysis throughout the last 12 months. I got aware of many things, I understand things a little better than I did before I started and I made peace with my diagnosis.

I am ready to ride this rollercoaster and to make the best of my life as best as I can.

So I plan to start my own business and to put to good use all the things that I learned about myself and the world in this past year. It is a work in progress, and I will let you know about it as things unfold. I do not like telling before doing, so you’ll know when it’s ready (Because I’ll write about it and you will probably hear me yelling “I DID IT!” from wherever you may be. Kidding! Or not.).

The message I want to convey is that you can do anything that you set your mind to do. It’s only a matter of releasing the fear of failure. And that’s one big problem, I know.

For me personally, regret of not trying it is bigger than any fear. The regret of wasting my life away, living and working in fear, waiting for the next paycheck as I spend 12 hours with an Excel sheet and email in front of my eyes. And on top of that living with multiple sclerosis.

This was all for this week’s #LifestyleFriday! Thanks for being here!

What is your opinion on the topic? Tell me all about it in a comment in the box below. I would love to hear your story and help you in any way.

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With love,

Alexandra

WorkOutMS: About Doing The Work While Having Multiple Sclerosis

Yesterday I twitt chatted about work and Multiple Sclerosis at the wonderful Twitter event #WorkOutMS. Organized by the European Multiple Sclerosis Platform, hosted by Emma Rogan and with a special guest like Shift.ms, I couldn’t have been in a better company. It was aimed at shedding light to working with MS in today’s context.

WHAT WAS IT ALL ABOUT?

Important topics were adressed, as the twitts came pouring down the screen. Issues like remote working, flexible hours, colleague interraction, adapting the workplace to Multiple Sclerosis, disclosing the illness to the employers and team, gathered all of the participants in sharing knowledge, insight and encouragements on the matters discussed.

Work is an important part of any adult’s life. It gives you something to do, something to contribute to society, it supports you financially. It even defines your identity and self-worth. That’s why, when you get diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, you enter mourning. You grieve not only your long lost health, but the future of your job and/or career. What will it happen now?

MY STORY & HOW CAN YOU ADAPT IT TO FIT YOU

As I returned to work after a week in hospital (I talked more about it here), I was fair and square with my employer and told him I have been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I was faced with the classical appoach: “Are you all right? Are you going to be able to live the same (to be read as Are you going to be able to work as before?)? I am sorry this happened!”.

Over the coming week, I sensed a powerful tension between me recovering from the optical neuritis and my employee being concerned with recovering his sales target that month. We had a lot of back and forth conversations about strategies, quotas and persuasion techniques.

Untill later that week, when he told me I needed to do more and that he doesn’t see that in me. I sat and thought about that and I suddenly realised that he was right. I did not have it in me to make his quota. Simply because I was feeling used and robbed of my right to heal. Robbed of my time to understand the things I was going through. And so I resigned and took a sabbatical to clear and order my thoughts into place.

Taking a year off like I did is not a thing that all people with Multiple Sclerosis can afford. It was not easy, and it implied a bit of financial struggle. But we all need time. We all need to go through this life changing event at our own pace. Stress is not our friend, and dealing with semi-ignorant people sure doesn’t help much.

Of course, I am sure that on a human level he felt sorry and was compassionate for me. But on the other hand, I could see the fear that lurked inside him. Will his target be safe? Will he make the same amount of money? Am I still a productive employee?

As a future business owner, I totally understand him. He wants to make a profit. That’s why he got into having his own business. But he also needs to understand, he needs to help, he needs to see both ways. His employee also has need for profit. It also has bills to pay and a family to feed and a career to grow. I urge him to give more and ask for less. It will repay him ten fold. He just has to have patience.

IGNORANCE IS BLISS. OR ISN’T IT?

Most employers are unaware of the kind of issues people with Multiple Sclerosis face on a daily basis. Can you blame them? You too would be interested in making a profit while downsizing the overall costs, if you were in their shoes. That’s the capitalist “factory mentality”.

They have a business, they have employees that give their all and settle for a wage. Do the job less good than usual, and you become prone to being downgraded, less payed or even fired. And all that because you are not productive enough. Because you aren’t an asset anymore. You become a liability. How wrong is this mentality? Not so wrong given the actual corporate way of thinking. It’s all about profit.

But it’s also about understanding that an employee who has been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis does not stop being an asset just because it can’t work full speed ahead anymore. Multiple Sclerosis is a neurological illness, it has nothing to do with a person’s intelligence or mental skills.

At its best, it only deals with minor cognitive issues, fatigue and/or heat sensitivity. In worst cases, it has to deal with wheelchairs, speech or dexterity. But it is all manageable, it can be adjusted as to help the person dealing with it be the most productive he or she can be.

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO CHANGE THE STATUS-QUO?

In today’s world, lots of actions are being taken in order to support people with Multiple Sclerosis who want to keep their jobs and thrive on them. The best example I can give, and one that I am deeply happy about, is the European Employment Pact for People with Multiple Sclerosis (click on the link to read), created by the European Multiple Sclerosis Platform.

It mainly states that the working skills and abilities of a person with MS must be taken into account. It also treats important issues like staying in work / being active and self sustainable, in order to have a thriving personal and professional life while making money to support it all.

Last, but not least, it emphasizes to provide sustainable employment for people with MS.

My personal approach is to take a leap of faith and start my own business. Multiple Sclerosis is a condition that strips away all control. I plan to gain it back by taking control over my financial wellbeing and my career path. It is simply what I chose to do, not what I say you should do also. We all have our own lives, our own conditions, but in a life that has Multiple Sclerosis dangling over our heads, the best approach is to be proactive and take control over your life.

Fight for your rights. Fight for your wellbeing. Fight for destroying stigma regarding disease and incapability of work. Fight for a better future. With or without Multiple Sclerosis.

This was all for this week’s #SMartWednesday! Thank you for reading and if you would like to receive my next articles right into your mail, subscribe to SMart Choice and join my SMart Warriors list!

Have a most wonderful day!

(For reading the whole twitt chat I talk about, click #WorkOutMS)

Sincerely,

Alexandra