Over the last couple of months, I’ve gotten a flood of emails (okay, maybe not a flood, but definitely a steady trickle) from people looking for an update. Where have you been? What have you been doing? Do you still have IBS? What’s the latest news with Romance, Riches, and Restrooms? So, here it is: the latest goings on in Tim Phelan’s life.
It probably makes sense to start with the biggest and most dramatic development. For the first time in over four years, I am back in the corporate workforce with another one of those “real” jobs (read: full-time). But before any of you extend your condolences or shed a tear on my behalf, I should point out that I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my new employment situation.
Now, some people have been surprised to hear that I’ve returned to the exact same career field (financial sales) that had proven to be so incompatible with my IBS for so many years. But the way I see it, I always felt like I had unfinished business with my old industry (very similar to my experience with the 30X bus line, for those of you who have read Romance, Riches, and Restrooms). I always wondered how my career would have turned out if it hadn’t been for my IBS and my rigid insistence on hiding it from the world. Would I have been successful at my job? Would I have found my career satisfying and fulfilling? These are the sorts of questions that had been sporadically gnawing at me over the last four years.
As you might imagine, my transition from the come-and-go-as-you-please writer’s lifestyle back to the more structured schedule of a corporate setting was not without its adjustments. For starters, even though I’d made light years of progress in learning how to manage my IBS and the anxiety that typically triggers it, I still wasn’t entirely sure how my digestive tract would react to the pressures of a formal sales job, not to mention the early-morning commute each day or the required business travel.
So, knowing that my symptoms were potentially capable of flaring up and thwarting my on-the-job performance at any time, I walked into my first round of interviews and delivered what I considered to be a bold preemptive disclosure. There it was, right at the very top of my resume, listed under most recent work experience:
“Authored Romance, Riches, and Restrooms, a humorous memoir about living with IBS.”
Naturally, that led to my first official interview question: “What exactly does IBS stand for, anyway?”
If I recall correctly, after saying “Very nice to meet you,” I believe my first words to my would-be employer were, “IBS stands for irritable bowel syndrome.”
As I had anticipated, I spent the next five minutes explaining how IBS had seriously compromised my ability to do my job effectively in the past, how I’d taken four years off from the industry to write and promote this book, etc. With my lack of recent industry experience, I was in no position to hide anything. Besides, what would be the benefit of not coming clean? No, I would reveal everything, be myself, and let the chips fall where they may. If they had an issue with the fact that I’d chosen to spend four years writing a book about my unusual odyssey, well, then that wouldn’t be the end of the world. It would only mean that this particular position wasn’t quite the right fit for me.
To my relief (and astonishment, quite frankly), they didn’t seem to bat an eye. Ironically, I was the one who hesitated to immediately pounce on the job offer. I still had to make sure they really knew who they were hiring. I asked my future boss if I could have a word in private and then launched into a series of what must have sounded like unusual questions.
What if I have to get up abruptly and leave a meeting to use the bathroom?
“No problem.”
What if I don’t want to fly on a puddle jumper that doesn’t have a lavatory?
“Well, you can make all your own travel arrangements, so I don’t really see that being an issue at all.”
And so it went, with question after question.
So, how have things turned out since then? Well, for starters, I love the fact that everybody at work knows I have IBS and that I wrote a memoir about how the disorder impacted my life (as an added benefit, several of my colleagues have bought and read my book). The fact that I don’t have to hide my IBS, like I’d unwisely chosen to do at every other job I’d ever had, took a lot of the pressure off. This time around, I could be myself. Not only that, but within a few weeks of my first day on the job, a handful of my new co-workers approached me to confide that they, too, suffer from IBS. So now I’ve even got my own little support group in my office.
All in all, even though it’s only been six months, I couldn’t be happier with my decision to go back into financial services. The people I work with are as professional as they are cool and friendly, and I honestly look forward to going to work each day. I can’t believe how much more enjoyable it’s been to work in this industry this time around.
So, where does that leave things with the book? Well, there have been a lot of exciting developments lately on that front, too. But since that’s a whole ‘nother story, I’ll save that for the next post. Check back in the next week or so, and I’ll fill you in on all the details.
-Tim
