Work right to right work: An automythology of chronic illness and work

Abstract

Objectives: Chronic illness is known to disrupt and redirect the usual course of work trajectories. This article aims to portray the longitudinal course of negotiating work after multiple sclerosis. Methods: Using therapy and personal journals to reconstruct memories and experience, an autoethnography is produced and narrated within Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey” automythology framework. Results: The narrative highlights the intrasubjectivity of illness meaning—the changing internal meaning-making and external behavior and decision-making dynamics. The journey of being inhibited to “Work Right”, to “Looking for the Right” and ultimately, finding “Right Work” is charted; portrayed as a bittersweet maneuver to achieve work–illness equilibrium. Discussion: This journey traverses a spectrum of negative coping—the exhibition of deviant work behaviors, disengagement and depression; to recalibration and renewal; culminating in living the “new normal”, and finding moral and meaningful work engagements. Life trajectories with chronic illness are often skewed and redirected; but longitudinal narratives of normalization and coping also highlight the pursuits to secure and maintain a life of meaning and value.