I HEART NAPS BUT I STAY WOKE

I was in a dark place 7 months ago.  I was coming to the end of my medical leave of absence following my ski accident and was supposed to be thinking about going back to school or finding a job.  But I knew I was sick.  I knew I would fail at grad school if I went back, and that there was no way I could work a 9-5 job.  And of course our country was going down the tube.  Life felt dark.

Around that time, this epic sign was born when JJ and his parents participated in the Women’s March.

If I saw it then, it probably pissed me off because I was jealous that it is socially acceptable for little kids to nap while I was secretly sleeping under my desk as I tried to write my PhD dissertation in Economics.

But since JJ and his parent’s marched?  (This is a list of personal triumphs, not national disasters.)

1. I went to therapy camp.
2. I started substitute teaching to explore other career ideas while life was dark.
3. AND THEN THERE WAS LIGHT WHEN I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH FREAKIN’ Type 1 narcolepsy.
4. I went on my honeymoon to New Zealand.
5. I came out publicly about narcolepsy.
6. I started treatment for Type 1 narcolepsy.
7. I came up with the idea for sleep&sparkle wire-framed headscarves.
8. I went on a personal-turned-business trip to Germany.
9. I LAUNCHED sleep&sparkle!
10. I sold out of sleep&sparkle headscarf styles!
11. And it just keeps getting better!

I’m slowly starting to have an appreciation for what I’ve accomplished since starting treatment.  Do I sink into a depression thinking about what my life could have been like if I had been diagnosed with and TREATED for childhood onset narcolepsy as…a child?  Abso-fucking-lutely.  But I’m also proud as hell of every fucking thing I’ve done and am energized to fight for kids and families so that fewer people have to experience what I did.  Because you know what?

I HEART NAPS BUT I STAY WOKE!

Love,
The #narcolepsyprincess