u/Ascendant_Phoenix

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https://www.reddit.com/u/PewResearchCenter/s/WoXE9PM81t

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To my ADHD/Autistic teachers- how are you guys able to keep doing this job? I just started year 6 and am very close to not being unable to function as a human. My home is a mess, I’m barely forcing myself to shower bc my executive functioning is in the shitter, I cry almost every morning bc I’m at a breaking point and when I get home I break down bc I’m simply not ok. I’m in the process of seeing a therapist, but I need a new career and am unsure how I’m going to achieve that when I’m already in active burnout. My brain loves the active stimulation that comes with the actual day of teaching kids and being busy, but I absolutely hate the extra stuff and not having a work/life balance. No matter how hard I try, something suffers and it’s usually my health/home life bc I feel an immense amount of pressure to be a good teacher. Luckily I’m single with no kids, but I cannot keep living like this. I’m on the verge of a huge mental breakdown.

Editing to say that I think I’ve realized that maybe for a lot of neurodivergent teachers, teaching is their special interest so it might make the stress more bearable. For me, although I enjoy parts of teaching, it’s definitely not my special interest and I’m not overly passionate about it, so I think that adds another layer of dislike for me and has lead me to the burnout that I’m experiencing. This isn’t to say that passionate teachers don’t burn out. I’m just saying that being neurodivergent and having teaching as your special interest may make things more manageable in a way.

As you may or may not know, not everyone with ADHD responds to ADHD medication. How were those of you with medication-resistant ADHD keep jobs despite your condition?

My reading stamina is way worse than it used to be. I was a precocious reader who taught myself to read as a toddler. I was reading at a college level in kindergarten. As a teenager, I could still read a book cover to cover. In my 30s, though, I can barely read a couple paragraphs before my mind begins to wander.

I've always been absentminded and bad at multitasking due to my ADHD, but I used to be able to really hyper-focus on reading before I got into my 30s. 27-30 were 3 of the worst high-stress years of my life in terms of career/financial/health collapse and I plan to go back to school to retrain into another career.

How do you suggest getting back into reading longer work?

Are people usually happy in Minneapolis? I'm trying to move away from Shreveport, Louisiana sometime in the next 5 years. Shreveport has really gone to shit.

I'm a former high school teacher who taught 6 years and am currently retraining through a 2nd degree into medical laboratory science. I recently had to make a distressed sale of my nearly paid off mortgage and go move in with a friend due to back to back job loss and a medical emergency that cut away my health insurance and income for over a year. I genuinely get ill at the thought of returning to teaching, hence why I'm a student again.

I'll be doing a chapter 7 bankruptcy while getting my second degree to clear out the medical debt, but would like to re-enter home ownership after I find my next city. From what I researched, Minnesota has decently strong debtor protections so if I needed another bankruptcy say, 10 years from now, it seems that Minnesota would protect my next house much better than Louisiana would have (had I not sold under duress).

The northerly latitude of Minneapolis could aggravate my seasonal depression in the winter, but may help my summer depression I get, since the temperatures are milder in the summer and I'll go out and get more sun in the summer. In Louisiana, I get seasonal depression twice a year because it gets dark in the winter but then I stay indoors a lot in the summer.

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I'm kind of left-of-center politically on a lot of issues and don't like how Louisiana just leaves its cities basically out to rot while it attacks whatever minority the culture war hates this week. I also don't particularly like extreme heat or extreme cold, but I guess if I was forced to pick, I'd go with cold.

I also have a side project where I'm trying to build a website where people can meet neighbors over spontaneous shared meals to become friends and share recipes. I'm a bit of a foodie.

Are people usually happy in Minneapolis? I'm trying to move away from Shreveport, Louisiana sometime in the next 5 years. Shreveport has really gone to shit.

I'm a former high school teacher who taught 6 years and am currently retraining through a 2nd degree into medical laboratory science. I recently had to make a distressed sale of my nearly paid off mortgage and go move in with a friend due to back to back job loss and a medical emergency that cut away my health insurance and income for over a year. I genuinely get ill at the thought of returning to teaching, hence why I'm a student again.

I'll be doing a chapter 7 bankruptcy while getting my second degree to clear out the medical debt, but would like to re-enter home ownership after I find my next city. From what I researched, Minnesota has decently strong debtor protections so if I needed another bankruptcy say, 10 years from now, it seems that Minnesota would protect my next house much better than Louisiana would have (had I not sold under duress).

The northerly latitude of Minneapolis could aggravate my seasonal depression in the winter, but may help my summer depression I get, since the temperatures are milder in the summer and I'll go out and get more sun in the summer. In Louisiana, I get seasonal depression twice a year because it gets dark in the winter but then I stay indoors a lot in the summer.

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I'm kind of left-of-center politically on a lot of issues and don't like how Louisiana just leaves its cities basically out to rot while it attacks whatever minority the culture war hates this week. I also don't particularly like extreme heat or extreme cold, but I guess if I was forced to pick, I'd go with cold.

I also have a side project where I'm trying to build a website where people can meet neighbors over spontaneous shared meals to become friends and share recipes. I'm a bit of a foodie.

I’m planning several years ahead and would appreciate a reality check from people who’ve actually been through the federal hiring process.
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My background:

I previously worked as a teacher, but I’m changing careers into Medical Laboratory Science (MLS/CLS). My long-term goal is a federal 0644 Medical Technologist/Medical Laboratory Scientist position. I’m willing to relocate anywhere in the U.S. for my first federal job because my ultimate goal is simply to get onto the federal career ladder. Long-term, I’d like to end up in Minnesota, but I’m not limiting my initial search geographically.
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Current plan:

• Graduate from an NAACLS-accredited MLS program.
• Work about 9–12 months in a private hospital lab to build experience and rebuild my emergency fund.
• Then begin applying broadly to federal MLS positions nationwide while continuing to work privately until I receive an offer.
• I may also be eligible for Schedule A hiring authority due to documented disabilities.
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My questions:
• Is waiting 9–12 months for private experience before applying a reasonable strategy, or would you recommend applying immediately after graduation?
• For someone willing to relocate anywhere in the country, how realistic is it to land some federal MLS position within about a year of actively applying?
• Does Schedule A make a meaningful difference in practice, or is it mostly just another hiring path that may or may not help?
• Once you’re in a federal MLS position, how much easier is it to transfer internally to another location later?
• Are there agencies (VA, DoD, IHS, etc.) that tend to hire new or relatively new MLS graduates more readily than others?
• I’d appreciate candid answers, especially from current or former federal laboratory employees.

I'm not sure how to post/promote it, but this is her server: https://discord.gg/FSc37Yq2ns