I am dyslexic and dyscalculate so I have struggled to do normal jobs. But I have a couple of skills I’m exceptional at, so have always got by, freelancing doing just those things and avoiding the things I am bad at.
after I got divorced, I really struggled financially (no parents or family) which was really frightening as I live in an expensive city and have two teens. The freelance wasn’t always reliable, and I was responsible for everything, (50/50 divorce, no maintenance)
so I hustled really hard and got an extremely senior job. It puts me in the top 1 percent of earners bracket. We have plenty of money, I take them of lovely holidays and say yes to just about everything. I have a massive mortgage but it is only about a quarter of my take home, I buy lovely furniture and clothes. I save quite a bit every month too.
but I get up at 6 every day, don’t get home until 7 or 8, don’t take lunch breaks, and hardly do anything but work. I often work the mornings on weekends too, until the kids get up. I’ve lost 3 kilos since I started the job from not having time to eat, and I used to exercise every day and now I hardly ever do,
also it’s really stressful. I make mistakes nearly every day which is embarrassing and I have to stand up in front of hundreds of people saying sensitive things that if I were to get wrong they would be huge problems. I’ve had to change other peoples jobs, and be responsible for things I only just understand. My boss has a rotten temper and has been pretty unpleasant on a couple of occasions.
I think it’s unsustainable but maybe it’ll get easier when I’m used to it? I’ve never had a normal job before.
also, I don’t know what else I’d do if I didn’t do this. It’s not the kind of opportunity that will come up again.
would you do it if you were me?