Trying to find a legitimate job I can do from home

Diagnosis: Autism, Social Anxiety Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Severe Anxiety Disorder, Depression

I have to be able to work. I don't qualify for disability as it is based on income and assets. I have a husband who works full time, we own our home, and we have savings for emergencies as well as his retirement (he is only a few years away, and I can't support us.) We need my income.

My doctor took me off work for "Severe Anxiety and Mood Disturbance" 1.5 weeks ago. She doesn't want me to go back to that job, or anything else that deals with the public.

Manual labour is no good as I have back issues, and aches in my feet and legs (due to severe club foot in both feet when I was born.) I also have very low energy, with spurts of normal level energy. I would prefer physical activity to be outside of work (biking, walking, kayaking, swimming, etc.)

Leaving my house, being around crowds, or even dealing with any people causes panic attacks. I have performance anxiety, and work best if there is noone (including my husband) around when I am working.

Although my anxiety is still very high, my panic attacks (which occurred multiple times every day) stopped when my work ended a week ago. I would like to not have those panic attacks anymore. My son would also like for me not to go back to them as he struggled to see me like that. He is 19, and has much the same issues as me, only he doesn't work yet.

I already (without work) push myself well beyond my comfort zone. I go to church, go to Bible Study, go to a psychiatrist and counseling, drive a car, do my own shopping, go out with my husband and visit his family, and live in close proximity to neighbours (so even going outside is out of my comfort zone.) All of these things bring out my strong anxiety. I don't feel the need to do more to push myself.

I really like to write and create things, but cannot handle criticism. While I would like to make money blogging and taking photographs, I do not believe I actually could. I do not want to do something creative for my work.

Here are some things I am good at: filling in paperwork (registration forms for the motel, transferring reports, IEPs when my son was home schooled through distributed learning, lesson plans for my daycare, etc.) Filing, faxing, and emailing are also things I am good at.

I enjoy researching, especially regarding psychology, education, eschatology (end times theories) and children's disabilities. I cannot afford to go back to school for a PhD, though I think I have the intelligence to complete that level of education (though not the mental calmness.)

I enjoy looking at pictures of interior design, looking through real estate on the mls website, being inspired by pictures on pinterest, and drawing floor plans. I do not believe that would be a good line of work for me.

I enjoy reading historical fiction (especially about pioneers, early Canadian/American history, Biblical times, Jewish history, etc.) I also like reading fantasy (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Inkheart, etc.) and Christian books (Max Lucado, Jerry B. Jenkins, Brock and Bodie Thoenie, Randy Alcorn)

The things I cannot do are: answer phones, deal with unpredictability, conflict resolution, problem solving (can do to a small degree, but only where I have experience and it is an easy solution) move beyond the established rules/regulations (like people asking to use the pool at my last job after hours) work with people around me, etc.

I would really like to work at home, on my computer. I do not want to work with specialized systems (programming, computer repair, excel, etc.) but email, etc. are okay. I don't want to work with direct contact with people. Email is best, web forums are good, instant messaging is okay (as long as it isn't conflict resolution or requiring creative solutions.)

I am not looking to get rich quick. I would like flexible hours (can go away from the computer, get something done, and come back) but could put in 36-40 hour weeks if required. I would like to make more than $20,000/year, but do not need to make thousands a month.

I cannot sell anything. I have never been able to. However, I was able to get clients for my daycare and petsitting business online, as well as in town. I can't make enough petsitting, and can't bring myself to do daycare again (after my failed adoption through the children's ministry, which is the most recent cause of my PTSD.)

Does anyone have any ideas? I haven't the imagination to come up with anything, and am afraid of falling for more scams (I have had enough of that in the past 20 years.)

This is long again. I am sorry. I cannot help but write a lot. My emails always become essays. Even my journal that I started 1 month ago today is already 150 pages long. When I speak, I struggle to get out a word.

Unfortunately I struggle to see highly marketable skills in your narrative. Your office skills however might be of interest especially if you have specialist areas of knowledge/expertise. I think you might have to focus on what you can offer and to who. Local contacts might be best - can you pick up home work from previous employers? Can you canvas ex-colleagues for leads?

My previous employer is a small motel. They have no other jobs than the one I was doing. With my social anxiety disorder and autism (which comes with an expressive language disability) talking to people and making contacts is next to impossible. I can get references from my previous employer (they liked me) but I cannot work in that area any more.

All I have for college are my Early Childhood Education (which expired, and I never transferred from Ontario to BC as I was running a home daycare, and didn't need to) and Residential Construction/First Year Carpentry. I did well on the theory, but am not able to do the practical for Carpentry.

I am not sure that certificates are what really counts, but specialist skills, experience and knowledge - I am unsure what your duties were in the motel, but for example, you may have been involved in documenting risk assessments and compliance with laws and regulations. I might guess that motel managers are more interested in running motels than paperwork and might be interested in an experienced person who could look after this side of things for them. Just a thought.

No, I didn't do anything like that. I mainly just took reservations and payments, and matched up our transactions for the day to ensure the computer matched the credit card machine. There was nothing specialized in my work.

I am pretty sure you underestimate your knowledge and ability, and I would not be surprised that this is caused by your distressing predicament. Perhaps people who know you well can give you a realistic assessment of your potential to future clients and employers.

If your willing you may need additional training. But medical transcription is a growing field. And offers the opportunity to work from home. Another option is translator if you're fluent in more than one language. Good luck.

Thank you, I have recently been looking into trying general transcription online. If I can find the work, I think that is something I would be good at. I don't need much training or extra equipment to do that work, and if I am good at it I could then look into training for legal or medical transcription. I am really hoping I can find enough work in this.

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