Capitol Hill. It’s a place that I’m going.

Posted on by Michelle Zagardo

Hi friends! I wanted to share this piece that I wrote on the @sleepandsparkle Instagram account earlier today. Apologies in advance if you’ve seen this 2384829194 times already on my other forms of social media.

I’m going to Capitol Hill! I am so freakin’ excited to join Julie Flygare and Project Sleep in advocating for increased funding for sleep related research. You can follow along on Instagram @curioussparkledirt where I’ll be posting over the next couple of days.

What does this have to do with SLEEP&SPARKLE? I was diagnosed with Type 1 Narcolepsy earlier this year and came up with the idea for SLEEP&SPARKLE two weeks (to the day) after starting treatment. The medication I started taking woke me up for the first time in my life and allowed me to function and follow through on tasks – like creating an online store to sell the things I make – that previously had quite literally only existed in my dreams and hallucinations.

Narcolepsy makes it difficult for me to stay awake during the day, can cause me to collapse spontaneously if my brain confuses an experience with REM (cataplexy), and causes hallucinations that stem from aberrant moments of REM. All of this made my graduate work feel like a fucking war and makes holding down a 9 to 5 job nearly impossible. Which is where SLEEP&SPARKLE comes in. I hope to build this company into a profitable enterprise that can support me and someday employees with similar struggles: people who deal with mental and chronic illness and need flexible work environments that are all too few and far between.

Every time you buy something from my store, I do a happy dance. Every time you send me an email raving about how the scarf you bought stayed put AND MADE YOU FEEL LIKE A BADASS READY TO CONQUER THE WORLD, my heart speeds up. I love what I do and I love that you love it. There’s no other job I could sustain right now that would allow me to simultaneously express myself creatively, work towards building something that can support myself, and give me the flexibility to manage my cumbersome medications and keep up with the advocacy work that helps me give back to my community. Thank you for supporting small businesses and thank you for supporting ME!

Want to learn more?

Visit http://www.project-sleep.com.

Follow Julie on Instagram @remrunner and follow Project Sleep @project_sleep.

7 thoughts on “Capitol Hill. It’s a place that I’m going.”

  2. I have been following you on instagram–best wishes to you and the whole project sleep team! I can’t imagine how intimidating it must be to do get out there in front of all these lawmakers, but you’re fighting the good fight!

    Will check out your shop. I have a ridiculously small head and super fine hair, so headbands NEVER stay in place. Do you think yours would work for me?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you so much! I thought it was going to be intimidating but it was a lot more relaxed then I expected. We met with the health contacts in the congressional offices that we went to so it was pretty low key. That said, I was still nervous in the first couple of meetings!

      I would LOVE for you to try one of my headbands! The description of your hair is super helpful. I have an idea of what you’re talking about and have made some headbands for similar folks! They’re a little different than what you’d get if you ordered online – shorter and narrower – but I’m hoping to revamp the website in January so that the option is there. I’ll send you a DM on insta and we can chat about it!

      Like

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