Well, this won’t last.
The last few weeks have been wildly productive for me personally. I launched a new Substack. I wrote over 10,000 words. I took on a new project for the brand I have a contract with. I’ve been able to do all of it while running a home, being a partner and a mom to my kids. And right in the thick of all that mental clarity and capacity, I had a snarky little thought weasel into the back of my brain: “This won’t last.”
I live with a chronic illness known as PMDD. Part of me wants to detail what the experience is like for those who aren’t familiar with the diagnosis. The other half of me is too mentally exhausted to lay out every facet of what PMDD brings into my life.
Every month I experience an onset of debilitating symptoms: severe mental fog, fatigue, confusion, sensory overload, joint pain, diarrhea, headaches, insomnia, anxiety attacks, and clinical depression.
I tell people it’s PMS but, like, cranked up 50 notches. It’s a fun time.
Thankfully, I’ve been able to get the symptoms to a manageable place. Before my diagnosis, I was barely keeping my head above water. Every month slammed me in bed for days at a time. I was blindsided by the depression and mental fog and berated myself for not being able to “get it together.” This only exacerbated the symptoms.
Now I know I just need a couple days to fall apart and plan accordingly.
It was a fairy tale—told in a surprising way from an unexpected source—that recently helped me make peace with my chronic illness. You’ve heard the fairy tale before, but not like this.