More than a mere marketing tag line, Believe in the Power of Work is the precept upon which the organization was founded. You may or may not know this, but Goodwill is much more than its well-known thrift stores. With the money brought in through selling donated goods in its thrift stores, Goodwill funds training programs and employment services that help people with disabilities and other barriers to employment find, and keep, jobs.
Rather than simply giving food and clothing to the destitute in his congregation, Reverend Edgar J. Helms, Goodwill’s founder, taught them skills that they could use to earn a living. His idea, much like the old Chinese proverb, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime,” was to prepare his parishioners for a lifetime of self-sufficiency.
Helms believed in the power of work – in the dignity, purpose, and self worth it could afford a person. I believe in the power of work, for the very same reasons.
I left my position at GII’s Member Services Center (MSC) in September 2008 for several reasons, foremost among them being the time requirements of thrice-weekly trips to Baltimore for the ICSCI therapy program. Initially, I’d attempted to handle both – I reduced my work schedule to 20 hours a week, going in to the office on non-therapy days (Monday and Thursday) and working two hours from home in the mornings before I left for therapy on the other days.
Clearly, I had overestimated my own stamina. After six weeks of this hectic schedule, feeling all the while as if I were not giving my full attention to either my work or my recovery, I was faced with a decision. Seeing as how I’d waited more than half my life for the opportunity for recovery the ICSCI offered, there really wasn’t that much consternation over it. I tendered my resignation and immersed myself fully in the therapy. I focused on learning as much as I possibly could about every aspect of it (theory, mechanics, etc.) as I went along. Not only was I physically involved, but mentally engaged as well. Suffice it to say, therapy occupied all of my mental and physical time and energy. Sure, I missed some of my Goodwill friends, but I was too busy to think too much about the job I left. Therapy became my full-time job.
That changed in March 2009.
Although my regular PT appointments ended on January 30, OT was extended to two-hour sessions and continued through February 28. On March 1, I was on my own.
All at once, my full-time job had become a freelance, work-at-home job. My past experience as a freelance writer tells me that this is not the optimal position for me – I don’t do so well when the only person I have to answer to is myself.
I was very well prepared, during my course of therapy at KKI, for continuing my therapy at home. Indeed, much of the therapeutic goal was to develop a program I could do on my own. Cara had created a meticulously-detailed physical therapy book for me that outlines different aspects of my home therapy program – exercises, stretches, e-stim specs, etc.
What I wasn’t prepared for was the sudden absence of a meaningful objective in my life. Some might argue that recovery is a meaningful objective, and I’m inclined to agree – to an extent. Going into this situation, I was sure it would be enough to keep me busy – but what I’ve discovered is that “busy” does not necessarily mean mentally engaged, and too much self-focus is not a good thing.
When I was working, my goals and objectives were clear – each had a beginning, middle, and end. Each project or writing assignment had a starting point, a process or method to follow while I worked, and a resolution when I was finished.
Conversely, the path to recovery stretches out, horizonless, before me, with no end in sight. It is a daunting undertaking, one that has an indeterminate, unforeseeable outcome – if there is, in fact, an end to be reached.
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