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Injured at work? Strategies and steps to cope afterwards

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The modern workplace is undergoing rapid change. With the development of flexible working schemes, teleworking, and an increasing number of people working from home, work life is not the same as before. A change in the nature of how we work also means more and more grey areas emerging around work injury and compensation after being injured at work.

What happens if you’re unlucky enough to be involved in a workplace accident?  Many women work outside the home these days. Often, these individuals try to raise a family while still working full-time or part-time jobs. Many are successfully doing so, but it certainly helps if they have a loving partner who can assist in shouldering the load.

Sometimes, though, a woman might sustain an injury at work from which she never fully recovers. If this has happened to you, you might feel unsure about what you can do next. Maybe you loved your career. You can’t imagine what your life will be like now that you can’t pursue the same job you once could.

Strategies and steps after being injured at work

Let’s talk about ways to adjust your life, so it’s still meaningful and fulfilling.

You Can Look into Worker’s Compensation and Disability Benefits

The first thing you’ll probably have to do is figure out whether you can get worker’s compensation due to your injury. If you were injured at work, or even if you were doing some task connected to it, but it didn’t occur on your company’s property, you can probably get worker’s comp while you’re determining what to do next. You may need to consult a lawyer or specialist injury attorneys to make sure you get the best result

If your doctors say you’re never going to recover fully, you may be able to go on disability. These benefits can definitely go a long way toward paying your medical bills for the rest of your life, and you can also use that money to help support your family.

You Can Figure Out What You Can and Can’t Do

With a severe injury, there are probably some things you can still do, while there will be others that are no longer within your power. It might take some time until you can completely determine how much your body is capable of in the months after the accident.

The injury might limit you severely, or you may be able to recover at least partially. It could be surgery that allows you to regain some of your former abilities. Maybe you need to go through extensive physical therapy or take prescription medication from this point forward.

You Can See if You Can Take Up Another Job Within Your Field

It also might be that even if you can’t continue with the same job you had before you were injured at work, you might still be able to do something in that same field. For instance, if you used to work in an office, maybe you can do some of the same tasks at home, but you can work remotely. That’s not such an unlikely scenario these days.

If you feel strongly that you wish to continue doing something within a particular niche, you can likely figure out some way to make that happen. You might no longer be able to do quite what you could before, but you may be able to do something tangentially related to it that you still enjoy.

You Can Talk to a Therapist

Maybe it’s a worst-case scenario, and your injury is such that you completely can’t do anything related to your old job. If this happens, some women have a very tough time dealing with it. It’s going to take a significant mental adjustment for you to accept that part of your life is over.

If you’re in this headspace, it’s easy for depression to overwhelm you. You may decide to see a psychiatrist who can help you get past this difficult time. Talking to them about your sadness, anger, or frustration might help you get back to a point where you can feel happy and content about your life again.

You Can Take Up Some Hobbies

If you can’t do anything related to your old work anymore, you might also consider taking up some hobbies to pass the time. If disability payments are helping you out financially, that’s great, but you still need to figure out some way to fill all the day’s hours.

Depending on your physical capabilities, you might take up gardening. You might read for recreation, either fiction or nonfiction, whatever you enjoy most. You might join a bowling team or try knitting. You can learn how to bake or concentrate on physical fitness and get in the best shape of your life.

Whatever you can figure out to do to pass the time, it’s probably preferable to wallowing in your negative feelings. It is always easy to feel sorry for yourself because of what happened, but if you have the mental strength to press on, you’ll almost always feel better about the situation.

Your Family Can Give You Strength

This also might be a time when your family can help you out like they never have before. Hopefully, they will understand that you have gone through something traumatic, and it might take time for you to once again become the person you were. They can be there to listen when you need to talk, and they can do anything else you require. In the months and years afterward, you can dedicate yourself to helping them grow and thrive.

For instance, if you’re a parent, maybe your career used to take up a lot of your days, and you lamented not spending more time with your kids. Now, because of your injury, you can help them with their homework or attend more softball games and school plays.

You can probably spend more time with your partner or spouse as well if you have one. Maybe you can have more date nights and quality time. Your career was important to you, but perhaps it was also getting in the way of deeper and more meaningful familial relationships.

Women who injure themselves while on the job often find it tremendously challenging to turn their lives around and look on the bright side of things. It’s hard to stay positive in the immediate aftermath. Your career should never be your whole world, though. As time passes, you might still miss it, but ideally, you’ll find you have plenty of other life aspects to enjoy.

About Business Woman Media

Our women don’t want to settle for anything but the best. They understand that success is a journey involving personal growth, savvy optimism and the tenacity to be the best. We believe in pragmatism, having fun, hard-work and sharing inspiration. LinkedIn

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