Cheers to 2015: A New Year, A New Attitude

Looking back on 2014, I had a lot of changes happen in my life for such a short year.

Ringing in the new year last year, I had to leave my friend's annual party early due to exhaustion, which I would find out a few days later was actually mono (boy, that was NOT fun!). I was a junior at Baldwin Wallace University, getting ready to head back to campus to my sorority sisters and hoping that I would finally find success in my classes after struggling for so long. 

Six months later, I was home for the summer, terrified to tell my parents that I wouldn't be returning to BWU in the fall, and frustrated by where I was in life. I felt so stuck. Lost. It wasn't a very good time for me.

But this year, as I rang in 2015 at that same friend's house playing Cards Against Humanity with him and his roommates til well past midnight, I realized I had experienced a complete 180 degree change since the year before. We were all laughing and joking, and I was barely having cataplexy. A true miracle, where a year ago I would have been entirely incapacitated early into my favorite game. I was cheerful and excited, looking forward to starting classes at the University of Toledo in two weeks. I even drove myself and my brother home at 1 a.m., in my OWN car that I just recently financed completely on my own at only 20 years old.

So I'm looking back on 2014 as a year of great transition for me. From the very "sick", sleepy person I was at the beginning of the year, with so many struggles and fears to face before I was able to reach a stronger and happier point with these last few months. 

And I'm looking forward to 2015 with a big smile and a level of confidence that I didn't even know I was capable of! :)

Narcoleptic Babysitting?

     Since I'm starting to feel so much better, I figure it's time to start trying more of the things I've avoided since I got narcolepsy. If it were up to me, I'd be driving already, but unfortunately cars are pretty expensive and my job isn't THAT great haha. So baby-steps it is for now. 

     Tomorrow I'm going to babysit for a family at the school I work at. The mom and dad are going out for the day with friends, so I'll be at their home with their adorable little girls. One of the kids is in 1st grade, and the other is a toddler (she's 2) , but they're both total sweethearts and are so excited for me to come over.

     At first, 10:30-7ish made me super nervous and I was going to back down, for fear of getting too tired while I'm there. But after thinking on it, I realized that this is something I can totally handle! I have extra Concerta as a back up and I'll be sure to sleep in the car on the drive there and home afterwords.

     Wish me luck! :)

A New Year and A Fresh Start

I've been slacking on the blog communication, I know. But I've found some time this morning to fit in a post to update anyone who cares about how my second semester of college has been going so far :)

First off, I have a new roommate! Beckah had to return home to England unfortunately :( but my new roommate, Samantha, has turned out to be another great match for me to be living with! She just transferred from a local community college so she is a 20 year old sophomore Communication Disorders major with a Psychology minor. Although she is older than me, she is just learning to branch out from underneath the harsh restrictions her parents have held over her for so long and to become her own person so the whole college life is new to her. She's extremely shy, which shocked me at first, but we've been working on that over the past few weeks and she's gotten much better on that matter! We even went to a party at a "fraternity house" (unofficially, as we aren't allowed to have actual Greek Life housing here in Berea) this past weekend and had a blast with mostly people we hadn't met before.

My class schedule is great this semester; not a single class before 10:10am ;)

M-W-F
US Chemical Industry 10:10-11am
Social Psychology 12:45-1:50pm
English 2:05-3pm

T-Th
History of Europe II 10:10-11:15am
Professions in Psychology 6ish-8ish (only Tuesdays; starts March 18th)

Not too bad if you ask me! I have plenty of time to go to class rested, and my neurologist even added an afternoon dose of medicine to my day to help me get through my evenings. I didn't even ask for more, but once I started this semester and started taking an extra 18mg of Concerta around 1-2pm, I am extremely grateful for his suggested! It helps especially if I find I don't have time for a nap before Social Psychology and English back-to-back on those days.

- I'm still a photographer for the school yearbook. Getting paid to take pictures? Can't beat that!
- I joined a group that gives middle school kids tours of campus to get them excited about it early so they can work hard in high school.
- My boyfriend Will and I are still happily together: January 30th was our 5 month mark <3

At least now I don't feel as bad for ignoring this blog for so long :S I'll make it a point to post more soon, this is a promise! On my way to Social Psych, wish me wakeful thoughts!