How I Went from Work-Strife Balance to Work-Health Balance

When I was 21 and lining up for my 4th open-heart surgery, I was terrified! Not only did I have to face yet another surgery, but this time I also had to do it while holding down a job and going to uni. I had NO clue how to tell my boss, negotiate leave (what my leave entitlements even were), how to read an HR policy, what a phased return to work was... and flexible arrangements weren't really a thing back then.

I fumbled through and stuffed it up royally! My boss ended up more confused than me, I was ashamed of my illness, and I felt like I had nowhere to turn.

Safe to say, it was an utterly horrible experience.

Over the next decade, I tried my best to hide my lifelong chronic illness. I used every trick I could find to try and not be seen as the 'sick' employee—the burden, the weakest link.

From fake tan to look less pale, and nail polish to cover my blue nails, I tried it all. I even got my work besties to cover for me when I needed a nap in my car at lunchtime!

Then, when I was 33, I found out I needed my 5th open-heart surgery. It well and truly tested my resilience.

After I really wallowed and swam around in my feelings, I gathered whatever crumbs of courage I had and scoured the internet desperately for a guide, for help, for something.

I found plenty of dry, boring, personality-less fact sheets filled with stuff I already knew. But I didn’t find a single thing that resonated with me.

After days of going round in circles, it finally dawned on me—I already knew way more than all these fact sheets combined!

I knew I needed time out from work for the surgery and recovery. I knew roughly how much leave I'd need. I knew my leave balances and how to read HR policy.

And now, I wasn't an insecure 21-year-old—I was a 33-year-old Ministerial Adviser at Australian Parliament House!

So, I made the decision to OWN my situation and set myself up for success.

I made the tough career decisions, I read and interpreted HR policy, then I negotiated an awesome outcome. I also leaned into work resources like mental health support and educated my colleagues on my situation.

It went so brilliantly that I was working back as a Ministerial Adviser within 4 months!

Since then, I’ve used my experience as a blueprint for the next decade of my corporate working life.

In between long-COVID, viruses, and other chronic illness bumps, I climbed the corporate ladder, earning six figures, and finally taught myself a rinse-and-repeat strategy for how to manage my work-health balance.

I really wanted to share my story with you because it proved to me that by getting the right strategies in place, you can ace your work-health balance.

No one should have to figure it out alone. With the right support and tools, you can build a sustainable career while prioritising your health.

P.S.

Adulting Well was started to give people, just like you, more knowledge so you could make the best choices possible – even with chronic illness.

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