Interested to know....

Well, despite the parameters of the question, the answer truly is no choice. But, on the emotional motivation side, I do find that it is helpful to have some degree of structure and expectation from others to be somewhere. And do my part. I hate letting people down. (Which of course can get very hard.) And along the lines of what A Red Panda said, I am terrified of of having to explain myself, so in I go. Almost always. I may be late, lost in my own head, suicidal or bouncing off the walls, but I'm there.

I've always worked (except one spell of a few horrific months and scattered unemployment). 39 jobs (that I can recall….there may have been more(!)). Never full-time. Longest lasting was 6 years, but it was seasonal. Never made diddly squat. Never interested in anything remotely managerial (I can barely manage myself and my people skills are….not so great). The sort of work I do now is a good match work-wise. But it's always the people….First time with this kind of work I was always butting heads with the boss/owner. Second time, no retail aspect! Extremely few people. Which of course made it my favorite job ever. Until one person decided to make it a living hell. Not so motivated now….

Like vj, I'm a really hard worker and don't goof off. Which is the absolute key element that keeps me in (relatively, lol) good graces. Most of the time. It covers a lot of sins as they say. That's an emotional motivation…. being able to take pride in being a hard worker.

I work part- time as I'm a student. When I'm manic and happy it's easy, when I'm depressed it's hell, when I'm manic and angry, or upset, or delusional it's a freaking nightmare and I can barely do my job everything is a blur. However what keeps me going is that when I have a job I get out of the house so I'm not locked in my head, it lets me actually put myself to some use, and social interaction, so while I might be really bad at it on that particular day depending on how I feel, I'm not isolated. It also gives me a sense of worth and stops outright depression completely flattening me, or delusions completely taking over.

Right now I'm working about 30 hours a week, not quite full time. One of my biggest fears is not being able to handle full time work if I'm ever able to find it. There's times I can barely handle part time. Like now. I had to drop out of college because I wasn't able to do what needed to be done with my bipolar and anxiety. Without my degree, I'll be really limited on what I can do in the field I work in and am passionate about (library science). I love where I work and what I do, but I'm terrified that this illness will keep me from being able to achieve my dreams. It already has in some cases.