u/CorinPenny

I have sighted Non-24, with a roughly 24.5-hour sleep-wake cycle, and I’m trying to find a realistic way to earn money without repeatedly sacrificing sleep to meet a fixed schedule.

I’m a veteran with ten years of Army experience spanning transportation/logistics, administration, communications, tax preparation, and event planning. I recently completed a BA in History and Political Science, with minors in Linguistics and Women’s & Gender Studies. Research, analyzing information, and language are strengths, but I don’t have an established civilian career to return to.

I’m also autistic/ADHD and have ME/CFS with post-exertional malaise, along with other chronic illnesses. That means the problem isn’t just when I can work, but how much work I can sustain. Mental exertion counts, too.

I tried FlexJobs and canceled the trial after finding very little that fit. “Remote” usually still meant fixed hours, daytime meetings, full-time availability, or quick responses during business hours. A night shift wouldn’t solve a sleep schedule that keeps moving, either.

Freelancing sounds more compatible in theory, but I’m worried about finding enough work, managing clients, and meeting deadlines with fluctuating capacity. I’d like dependable additional income, rather than occasional pocket money.

I receive VA disability compensation, so I have a financial foundation. However, I want to relocate to Washington, where that income won’t cover living independently. I just applied for VA vocational rehabilitation, but I’m struggling to identify a career goal that’s actually compatible with my circumstances.

For people here who earn money while living with Non-24:

• What do you actually do? Specific job titles or services would help.
• Can you work whenever you’re awake, or do you still have required meetings, response windows, or fixed shifts?
• Did you enter that work with specialized experience, or were you able to learn on the job?
• If you freelance, how dependable is the income, and how much unpaid effort goes into finding and managing work?
• If you also have fatigue, PEM, or another condition limiting your hours, what arrangements have been sustainable?

I’d also appreciate hearing about things that looked workable but weren’t. I don’t want to build a plan around “flexible hours” only to discover that it means choosing whether to start at 8 or 9 a.m.

I’m looking for actual work experiences, rather than sleep-treatment suggestions or advice about disability benefits. I’m feeling pretty discouraged, and hearing how others have navigated this would help.

I’m feeling pretty discouraged and would appreciate hearing from people who have actually navigated this.

I’m a medically discharged Army veteran with ten years of experience spanning logistics, administration, communications, tax preparation, and event planning. I recently finished a BA in History and Political Science, with minors in Linguistics and Women’s & Gender Studies. I have strong research, analytical, and language skills, but translating that broad background into suitable paid work has been difficult.

I’m autistic/ADHD and have several chronic illnesses, including ME/CFS with post-exertional malaise and a non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder. My capacity fluctuates. Fixed schedules are difficult, and mental work also takes energy. Working from home doesn’t magically make a full-time or synchronous job accessible.

I tried searching FlexJobs, but the more I refined my searches, the less suitable the results became. Everything seemed to require extensive specialized experience, full-time availability, fixed working hours, duties I would struggle to stay engaged with, or work outside my expertise.

I’m scared of accepting employment and then discovering I can’t sustain it. Freelancing raises a different fear: having to find clients, manage the business, and produce the work while my capacity varies—and never earning consistently enough to make that effort worthwhile.

I receive VA disability compensation, which gives me a financial foundation. But I want to move from the Southwest to Washington, where it won’t cover living independently. My partner plans to move there, and I don’t want to begin living together financially dependent on him. That isn’t a trust issue; I want to avoid putting that strain on our relationship.

I just applied for VA vocational rehabilitation. I’m also looking for counseling that can help connect my actual abilities and limitations to realistic work, rather than giving me another personality test and a list of careers.

For those of you with similar limitations:

• What paid work have you actually been able to sustain?
• What does “flexible” mean in your job—can you change your working hours and workload, or does it still require daily availability?
• How do you handle bad days or periods when you can’t deliver consistently?
• If you freelance, have you found a way to make the income reasonably dependable without overcommitting?
• Has a vocational rehabilitation program or counselor helped you find suitable work? What made their help useful?

I’m not asking about benefit eligibility or trying to find a way to push through PEM. I’m looking for concrete experiences with earning money while respecting real limitations—including honest accounts of arrangements that didn’t work.

Right now, I’m struggling with the gap between having useful skills and being able to meet the conditions under which employers will pay for them. I’d really appreciate hearing how others have approached that gap.