Chronic Pain Navigator: Seek Flexible, Remote Community-Oriented Roles

The original poster (OP) faces significant challenges due to chronic abdominal pain impacting job retention, despite a strong work ethic and desire to help the community (criminology background, volunteer firefighter). The critical path for finding a 'better job opportunity' is to identify roles that offer extreme flexibility, remote work, or part-time structures that can accommodate unpredictable health flares. Continuing in physically intensive roles like paid firefighting might exacerbate health issues. Instead, the OP should explore remote positions in social services, such as intake coordination for helplines (e.g., 211), virtual assistant roles, or remote data entry/administrative positions, where empathy and communication skills are valued but attendance can be managed more flexibly. Seeking an official diagnosis for potential disability accommodations could also unlock more supportive work environments.