We all know that. So if change is constant, the only variable then is in our ability to adapt.

I was watching the Amazing Race Sunday night. It really is an interesting study on human nature and the ability to adapt to constant change – to the unknown. It is remarkable how certain temperaments rise to the top as they excel at adapting to unknown situations, while others battle themselves and their own teammates while flailing wildly at the unknown.

The ever important clue box is a great example of what I mean. Teams are given a general direction and told “that is where you will find your next clue.” So each team approaches the area not sure exactly where they must go.

Some teams calmly read their directions for more clues and talk it through, looking around together until they spot the box.

Other teams divide up to cover more ground, keeping each other updated and staying connected with their voices.

Then there are the teams that run around wildly yelling at each other, oblivious to the details of their surroundings. These are the teams that usually run past the box three or four times before spotting it. They are frantic and manic. They are out of breath, angry with each other, and completely out of tune with their environment.

For years my husband and I have joked we would make a great team on the Amazing Race. If I had to judge, I would say we would be most like the first team type – sticking together to take in our surroundings and find the clues. In fact, I am certain that is the kind of team we would be.

Change is not coming. Change is here.

Last Thursday my husband called me in the middle of his work day, except it was no longer a work day for him. After surviving many rounds of layoffs, this time he was the one terminated. He was calm when he relayed this life altering news to me. “Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no,” was the only thing I could say. But he calmed me down and told me the one thing I believe to be universally true, “We are going to be okay.”

As soon as I slowed down long enough to recognize his calmness and listen to the truth in his words, I knew it was true. We are going to be okay.

Where we have been.

After the accident in late 2006, I tried to get back to working full-time, but my body could not handle the stress of it. My symptoms continued to worsen to the point that we both realized what I needed most was time. After much consideration, and resolving ourselves to the financial adjustments we would need to make, I quit working and have been focusing on my health and wellbeing ever since.

FibroHaven is the product of my time away from working, and I am so proud of what I have created – my blog, my support group, and my facebook community. It is through all of the FibroHaven components that I have learned so much more about who I am, why I have Fibromyalgia, and what I can do to improve my quality of life. I have a new spiritual awareness attained through the many mind-body practices I have introduced to my life, like yoga and meditation.

Each step of my journey away from work and with FibroHaven, whether I was struggling or succeeding, my husband was right there with me – taking it all in, and trying to interpret what it all means.

The time away from the stress of working has been a true gift to me. It has not been easy on our lifestyle. We gave up a lot of the comfort and luxuries that comes with two incomes. I am not healed, I am not cured, but I am better. Well enough that I know it is time for me to contribute again.

Strangely enough, something happened this week to reinforce that it is time for me to change my focus. Everyday I spend a lot of time on FibroHaven’s facebook page. It was a great complement to my blog, and a quick way to share timely, relevant links and Fibromyalgia resources. I was very happy with the work I had been doing.

Monday morning I shared my most recent blog post there, and then went off to my noon yoga class. When I came home and sat down at my computer I headed straight for facebook, but my page was gone:

The page you requested was not found.

It was like a shot to my gut – another loss. All that work gone. Disappeared! Sickening.

Today, I am kind of over it. Sad, yes. Disappointed, sure. But I recognize how much time and effort I spent on it and I realize that my time and effort are best suited elsewhere now.

You see I am part of a team, and my team has had a set back. But we are not out of the race. No way!

Where we are going.

We are not out of the race, because together we have calmly taken in our surroundings and recognized what we need to do to move on. My husband is a talented man. He will find work again. But in the meantime, I need to come off sabbatical and contribute. This means less time to spend on FibroHaven.

Not to worry. My blog is here to stay. I will just have less time for all the ancillary projects – like the now gone facebook page, and like my local support group. I am cutting meetings from two a month down to one, and I will be asking for someone to step up and assist me in running the group. There were also several other things I have been working on that will either not happen, or will have to wait.

Yesterday was our 6 year wedding anniversary. We spent the day focused and excited about our future. Change is here and we are ready to adapt – calmly, and together. I can’t wait to see where the next clue takes us.

For myself, Fibromyalgia has forced me into two career changes. I was in management at a high-pressure, fast-paced company when I first was diagnosed in 1997. For months I tried to hang onto the position I had spent ten years building within my company, but ultimately I had to let it go. It was not an easy choice to make, but it definitely led to an improvement in my life and allowed me to manage my symptoms without the stress and pressure I faced daily as a manager. I became a freelance sales rep, able to set my own schedule, and as long as I met or exceeded my goals, I could work as much or as little as I needed to. Some weeks I worked full-time, others I put in less than 20 hours. My position required me to travel a lot, but all of my accounts were within driving distance so I became a master at routing myself to take advantage of my “good” days and allowing myself the time and flexibility for those ever demanding “bad” days.

For tens years I prospered and even thrived in my sales career. At the time it was a very compatible career for me. Then in 2006, as I was driving to one of my accounts, I was rear-ended by a distracted driver. He hit me going nearly 70 mphs, and the comfortable life I had spent the last ten years building was shattered in an instant. Even though I had been living with Fibromyalgia for ten years, I had no idea how relatively manageable my symptoms had been. Sure I had many bad days and debilitating flares, but nothing like I began experiencing after the accident.

So once again I was faced with a decision. I knew I could no longer manage my sales territory and my health. I could have pursued the opportunity to go on disability, but I was afraid if I allowed myself to be labeled “disabled” I would start to believe that I no longer had anything to contribute. I honor and respect those of you who have and need the security of disability, it was simply my personal decision to eliminate that as one of my choices. So what to do then?

For the first time in my life, I decided to follow my passion for writing. I didn’t just wake up one day and decide though. It came about out of the natural progression of me trying to manage and improve my health. Things were pretty dark immediately after my accident. As the weeks and months past, I continued to feel worse, not better. My despair led me to start my first blog, Fibromyalgia Haven. I started writing about my health and wellbeing, and then a weird thing happened – my life began to come back into focus again. I felt like I had a voice and a purpose again. And then slowly, people started to visit and leave comments and share their experiences. And then people started asking me to write articles for them, or to contribute to their blog. And now, here I am, in my new career as a freelance writer.

It is by far my least lucrative career, but that doesn’t even matter to me. I am healing through my writing, I am reaching out to all of you through my writing, and I am doing something I am passionate about. So do I thank Fibromyalgia for bringing me to this place. I don’t think I will, even though I believe everything happens for a reason, and that I am exactly where I am meant to be, I also think my path was a little too painful and treacherous for me to be grateful. Maybe I will just be grateful that I made it through.

So that is my story, but I am really curious to learn about all of you. Are you able to work while managing your Fibromyalgia symptoms? Do you simply push through it, or have you made adjustments to allow for the unpredictable nature of Fibromyalgia? Have you had a career change? Are you on disability? And if you are on disability are you still able to earn a supplemental income? Any thoughts you have on working with Fibromyalgia, I would really appreciate if you shared them in the comments. As you might have guessed I am planning to write follow-up articles with ideas and recommendations to encourage us all in our quest for better health and wellbeing.

Working from home may be one of the best things to come from living with Fibromyalgia.  I have been forced to adjust my career to allow for flare-ups and for days when I am not suitable for human consumption.  It has been a gradual transition from the full-time job I had when I was first diagnosed, to my current career as a freelance writer and homebody, but I am very pleased with the direction my career has taken.

The doctor who diagnosed me told me plainly and simply, “You are going to have to change your life, and most definitely your career, but you will be able to live and work productively with Fibromyalgia.”  I did not realize it at the time, but by saying that she had given me a gift, and her words play a huge part in how I have approached living with Fibromyalgia.  And the accident too, it also played a huge part in the changes I have made – forced change if you will.  I understand that I cannot be productive the way I once was.  I can no longer work a routine schedule set by the needs of an employer, but I am still capable of working at my pace.  So I have found a career to suit my needs and stimulate my mind.  So far it has been very satisfying, if not yet financially rewarding.  And now here I sit at my desk, which is an old refurbished army desk from my husband’s Dad, in my lovely antique chair that my husband procured for me off Craigslist.  I sit here each day and feel lucky to have the opportunity to pursue a writing career in the comforts of my own home with all the benefits it affords.

For instance, I get to spend the day with my lab Casey curled up behind me in her favorite leather chair.  She is thirteen and has endured a lot this year – 4 surgeries to open her scarred esophagus and later an awful stomach infection.  She is old, skinny, and riddled with arthritis, but she is a happy girl and it brings me great comfort spending every day with her, and feeling her constant presence behind me.  I have found there is a rhythm to the sound of her snore and it soothes me.

The coffee breaks are better when you work form home.  If I decide to go out for my break I have several nearby coffee shops to choose from, and I get to take my work with me.  How great is that?  It is a good way to stimulate my brain and usually gives me new and fresh ideas for my writing.  It is also a good way to counteract the isolation of working from home and to remind myself that the world is still abuzz with activity.

Working from home has helped save our budget too.  Previously I was a commissioned sales rep and traveled 3 counties to visit accounts.  I had to spend money to make money.  Not just on gas, but on lunches, and supplies, and general wear and tear on my car, and also on my wardrobe.  A sales rep lifestyle is expensive.  Now I can do everything from my desk, and who cares what I am wearing!

You have to be disciplined to work from home otherwise you lose a lot of valuable time.  I am fortunate (when I am not sidelined by a flare-up) to not have issues with this so far, and mostly that is because I love writing and when I am not writing I am doing research for my writing, which I enjoy as much if not more.  There are so many freelance writing opportunities on the Web on such varied topics.  It is fascinating and I feel constantly driven to get my piece of it.  I am not the most accomplished author, but check back with me soon!

Despite my limitations, I still need to feel productive.  I need to feel like I am contributing to my life.  I cannot give in to the pain.  I will not let it defeat me.  Disability is not an option.  That is what my doctor told me eleven years ago.  That was her gift to me and I hold onto it tightly.  It is because of her gift that I sit here today in my antique chair; at my refurbished army desk; with my cup of coffee and my lab Casey, and write these words that few will read.  But these words will lead to the next, each one building the foundation of my new career.  Just think, without the Fibromyalgia, I may never have made this leap.  I am not quite ready to “thank” my Fibromyalgia, but I do acknowledge that it just might be taking me to a better place.  I hope it not to be with me when I get there!