Should I do it?
Whichever pm or here :).
Do you want to do it? Not mandatory.
Idk I have serious back and hip issues two surgeries in and two more to go maybe it will be ok one day maybe not, but its certain ill never be able to go back and become a diesel mechanic again :(.
Although I’m extremely glad that you are past the rough spot in your life!
Saying I am past the rough spot is not quite true. I’ll be struggling for the rest of my life with my issues, they are just more managed now. I too had many surgeries, and the best I can hope for is that life will be a slightly different struggle than it used to be. Just gotta play the hand you’re dealt…
Well, some young people use parent’s account or something, so it’s still possible, but he is not set up by a parent either at this time. I think if he was, it would be easier to accept payments. It might be something he can look into though. I should have mentioned that when I paid for his paint service, I put cash in the mail, but some people may not trust the mail. So, we’ll see how things go for him. I think he may want to look into a Paypal setup if things work out well.
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Wow, I’m looking forward to the answers, that’s something we all should think about.
I totally understand that. Just to from one lemon stand to the next :). Just bring sugar and spice season to perfect and drink away!
I guess I was saying you’ve crossed some bridges and burned others (in a good way) and are in a different spot today (sounds like things are at least looking up from where they were 12 or 14 years ago.) and managing pain and the struggles with more tools in your tool box then times prior. I didn’t mean for it to sound as if I was making light of your current situation.
Cheers to life getting a little better daily!
Me too, as young people often see themselves as one of the xmen or superman or cat woman or spider woman. There has to be a Claus in our planning for the unexpected and entirely plausible fact that disability happens and people get hurt to a life changin fault.
my goal right now is to get good grades and perform well in school. On my business side of things I will eventually have to stop my jewelry company in order to go to college that’s about in 5yrs tops or sooner. As for everything else my actual dream is just to get a job, go to college, and hopefully get a job I have always been wanting or get a job I enjoy everyday. As of right now i don’t know what that actually is all I know is that it’s out there. I don’t really plan stuff so really that’s about my 10 yr plan. Other than being or getting good at yoyoing and hopefully start a Yoyo club at my high school.
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Hey Totalartist, just did my first paypal transaction last night ;D
Very cool, but how do you think you’d handle something that drastically changed all the above? And if it were a disability after getting hurt what would you do to remain positive and hopeful?
I’ve tried to answer that question for myself, and thought about it a full day before attempting. :-\
On my job, we buy insurance policies in case we get hurt. There are all these policies available, and you can pay depending whether you want to be covered for on the job injury, off the job or both. You also choose if you want payments to kick in immediately, or 30 to 60 days after you get hurt. I have 100 days of sick time in the bank in case something happens, to give me time to get myself together and adjust. I only work a mandatory 20 days a month, so that’s 5 months of sick time. Now, I have so much time in the bank that I sell it to get cash each year rather than let it build too high. If you retire with too much sick time, you will lose it, so you have to balance using it, and having time in there in case something happens. There is a lot more coverage on my job than most jobs if I got hurt, but no one can be fully guaranteed to be able to maintain their livelihood if something were to happen. Those insurance policies have all these options, you can be covered for serious medical illness like Cancer, loss of limb, blindness and all that. But, for those policies for major illness, you pay the big bucks. If I’m hurt at work, I’m out with pay and that does not come out of my sick time. So, if I was hurt on the job and had insurance policies kick in…I would make more not working than working. I have never been hurt on the job…or off. I was out for surgery for some weeks last Summer, but it was nothing too serious, so I planned ahead financially and used my regular sick time/vacation time. Being out for that time did teach me some things. You have to think about who is going to do the things that were “simple” when you were able bodied. Who is going to cut the grass? That kind of thing. Lucky for me, before surgery, I cut the grass real short, and after two weeks, I was okay to take my time and cut it myself at that point. It was a bit premature, but I took my time and got it done without paying someone else. When you don’t expect to be incapacitated, that is when things are at their worst.
If I was really disabled long term and could not do my job ever again, I think I would have to evaluate what skills I have left that can be utilized. If I still have fingers, I type 70 words per minute, so I would resort to something where that might be useful. If I can still talk and sit up straight, I might do some type of work on phones, because I can be professional. So, the thoughts do cross my mind about if worse came to worst, what could I do? I still have a graduate degree, so if I could still get around, even in a wheelchair, I might try to teach college classes somewhere from behind a desk. I never thought of teaching, but I would try it if I had to. I read and write pretty descent, so I might try editing of some sort. If I could not move around, but could still see, I would probably read a lot anyway, and editing might work for me. In short, I would draw from the skills I have, and see what might bring in the most income for me.
In 5 to 10 years, I hope to be promoted at least twice over by then. I am in line for that, so I am hoping all that would work out for the best. I hope to still be having fun getting my house together the way I want and still able to afford the toys and gadgets that make me happy. I hope to still be healthy and enjoying life. At this point in my life, I don’t ask for much, just to be healthy, happy, and able to take care of myself the way I want. But, at my age expectations are not all that high.
Great question Snafu, and it comes from a “real” place. I think those who think about these things ahead of time, are a step ahead in the event something might happen. While you can never prepare, it helps when the mind has ventured there before.
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Very good answer TotalArtist! I enjoyed that you really thought about it! You bring some amazing and truly valid points to the table. It does truly come down to who will do the small tasks that we take for granted I. Daily life? If we don’t have a support network then we must pay someone, and generally those people don’t come cheaply; also insurance is very very important not just health care but disability (long term and short term) another avenue to look at is life insurance as well, because what happens if you were to die early on?
Sadly the only “real skills” I had prior to getting hurt was diesel mechanic stuff, after being unemployed for 8 years I am 100% unemployable, so for me I’ll have to go back to school or work a job that doesn’t require a degree (yeah right seems McDonald’s takes a degree anymore.), but I really enjoy your depth of thought into how’d you use your skills and how you’d make every possibly opportunity count.
just another reason I believe you to be an awesome and amazing person!
Thanks for the indepth and heartfelt answer. 8)
I also hope that you get that promotion you are in line for!
You are certainly right you cannot truly prepare, but if you begin the prep and thought of being prepared you can at least have a contingency of sorts in place.
I wasn’t prepared and met these issues head on as I was just a young man and thought I was invinsible, but easily that mythic idea was dispelled lol.
usually I embrace change so I I wouldn’t have as much of a problem. (then again in MD college is expensive so I don’t really know)
I’ll play along too, since I am at a different point, but my goals are relevant.
I’m 44 now, but I have only been gainfully employed for 6 years. I had serious health problems that derailed my life until I was 38, but during that time I never gave up, always believing education would provide the best possible opportunities should I ever be healthy enough to work. Because of my health problems, I flunked out of high school. 3 times. Eventually got my GED. Then I went to community college. Spent 4.5 years getting my 2 year associates degree. Then another 4.5 years working on the last 2 years of my bachelor’s degree. After that, I got even sicker, and had to go on disability. I had no hope to recover, and no real prospect. I made $431/month on social security. I lived in subsidized housing. I decided I had 2 choices, give up or fight. I chose to fight. I spent all my energy and money (what little extra I had) on high quality nutritious food to give myself the best chance of recovery, and engaging in a hobby that would keep my spirits up and help me cope, and maybe regain some stamina. I did wood working. I finished only a couple small projects in 5 years, but the daily struggle to keep pushing kept me focuised on some goal oriented things. I gradually started to see light at the end of the tunnel, and realized I needed to take action to continue to get better. I decided I either needed to go back to school, or get a job. I figured a job was the least demanding for me, as I had more cognitive function than physical stamina, and so I went to graduate school. School helped my recovery, in that it pushed me to stay focused, and gave me something to strive for. As I finished school, I was healthy enough to hold down a full time job. I got the job I have now right out of school. I was promoted within 3 years (fastest in my department ever) and am looking at another promotion now. On the side I am starting my own company, and in the next year or so, I hope to be leaving my day job to be self employed as my only source of income. I am currently making more money at my self employment than I do at my day job, but it is not reliable enough yet to count on and quit.
So, I know how to handle setbacks. I have lived them. If I lose everything tomorrow, I have a safety net of my parents house. I sell my house, sell my stuff, move into their guest room, and start rebuilding. My 10 year goal is to retire by 55, or at worse 60 if it means higher standard of living after retirement. I only hope we can make the new business a success.
Fortunately, I have a PhD, and I love teaching, so that is always an option to fall back on.
This is from an old entrepreneur of YYE.
BTW - right before I went on disability, I ran my own business for 2 years in my mid 20s. We were very good at what we did, and we put the local competition out of business in our first year.
Also, to pick on TA a little here, in your last post, your only typo I noticed was in the sentence: “I read and write pretty descent.” Nice bit of irony, since you actually do write decently. Funny typo.
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Wow thanks for sharing Rob! Sounds like you managed to handle your major offset very well. I on the other hand am not doing so well, but I’m trying to find that light at the end of the tunnel and the mindset to believe it’s not a train!
I’m trying to piece things together as chronic pain and debilitating pain has locked me to my bed for the better part of the last 8 years, but its time to fight and forget about flight!
Very inspiring life story you have and I appreciate the time you took to write it.
Are you still a woodworker? I have a project I’d be interested in having done I saw your card tables and wow very impressive.
So youngsters when life deals you a jaded hand remember the river and the flop might hold the answers so don’t give up! RobK shared what should be massive inspiration to all, I know it was for me (I’m 33 and I took a lot away from that!).
Wow that’s cool rob my dad has a cosines that does wood working he has made couches an beds that stuff is really cool.
Goes to show you that typing 70WPM can ruin how decent it is. Spell check won’t fix it, when it’s a real word. I got busted there. It will not be my last typo, but in a formal setting, I take more time to proof things. That should help out 
Thanks for sharing RobK, it is a nice comeback story.
But, I couldn’t resist a little edit of your last post too…I mean it’s only fair. I had to get my red pen out for you Rob… 
Spell check wouldn’t pick my error up Rob, but it should have picked yours up. You hate commas too. 
I would have yours look closer to this…thought I’d have a little fun.
I’ll play along too, since I am at a different point, but my goals are relevant.
I’m 44 now, but I have only been gainfully employed, for 6 years. I had serious health problems, that derailed my life until I was 38. But during that time, I never gave up, always believing education would provide the best possible opportunities, should I ever be healthy enough to work. [s]Because of my health problems, I flunked out of high school[color=red]. 3 times.[/color] “I flunked out of school 3 times, because of my health problems.” Eventually, I got my GED. Then, I went to community college. I spent 4.5 years getting my 2 year associates degree. Then, I spent another 4.5 years working on the last 2 years of my bachelor’s degree. After that, I got even sicker more sick, and had to go on disability. I had no hope to recover, and no real prospect. I made $431/ per month on social security. I lived in subsidized housing. I decided I had 2 choices, to either give up or fight. I chose to fight. I spent all my energy and money (what little extra I had), on high quality nutritious food, to give myself the best chance of recovery, and engaging in a hobby that would keep my spirits up and help me cope, and maybe regain some stamina. I did wood working. I finished only a couple small projects in 5 years, but the daily struggle to keep pushing kept me focuised focused on some goal oriented things. I gradually started to see light at the end of the tunnel, and realized I needed to take action to continue to get better. I decided I either needed to go back to school, or get a job. I figured a job was the least demanding for me, as I had more cognitive function than physical stamina. So I went to graduate school. School, which helped my recovery, in that. It pushed me to stay focused, and gave me something to strive for. As After I finished school, I was healthy enough to hold down a full time job. I got the job I have now, right out of school. I was promoted within 3 years (fastest in my department ever), and I am looking at another promotion now. On the side, I am starting my own company,. and In the next year or so, I hope to be leaving my day job, to be self employed as my only source of income. I am currently making more money at my self employment, than I do at my day job. But it is not reliable enough yet, to count on and quit.
So, I know how to handle setbacks. I have lived them. If I lose everything tomorrow, I have a safety net of my parents’ house. I would sell my house, sell my stuff, move into their guest room, and start rebuilding. My 10 year goal is to retire by 55, or at worst 60, if it means higher standard of living after retirement. I only hope we can make the new business a success.
Fortunately, I have a PhD, and I love teaching, so that is always an option to fall back on.
This is from an old entrepreneur of YYE.
BTW - right before I went on disability, I ran my own business for 2 years in my mid 20s. We were very good at what we did, and we put the local competition out of business in our first year.
Also, to pick on TA a little here, in your last post, your only typo I noticed was in the sentence: “I read and write pretty descent.” Nice bit of irony, since you actually do write decently. Funny typo.
Oh TA if you were editing all my posts you would be up all night.