The Benefits of Facing Your Fears: Starting a Blog

Will Smith once said, “The best things in life are on the other side of fear.”

This was a lesson I learned when I decided to create my blog and share my story with the world. It was, undoubtedly, one of the scariest moments of my life, but through this decision, my entire life path would be altered.

Denial took me to a dark place

Two years after my narcolepsy diagnosis, I was still very much in denial. My denial led me to a very dark place where I truly believed I was somewhat of a superwoman, something that was only possible as I was taking extremely high doses of Ritalin at the time.

Long story short, I was forced to leave the country where I had established my entire life and suffered through a period of an unsettling depression, unlike anything I had ever experienced before.

My emotions were all over the place. I was angry for a long time. I felt alone and isolated and as if my narcolepsy was completely controlling my life. I felt powerless to do anything about it and hopeless in regards to my future.

Discovering people like me

As time passed, I knew things could not continue like this any longer. I knew that if I did not do something to get myself out of that hole soon, I might not be able to get out at all.

I began searching the internet for other people like me and listening to other people’s stories. I was astounded by how similar they were to mine and felt truly inspired by the courage they had to display their struggles so openly for the whole world to see.

Deciding to share my story

I knew I had to change my views of narcolepsy and turn what I had always viewed as a burden into a positive contribution to society. I then decided I needed to share my story and create my blog, “Life in Flashes.” I used a free site called Wix, and it was an easy and fun process!

It was time for me to accept the fate that I had been given instead of fighting it. I needed to use it to educate and help other people.

How blogging has impacted my life

Starting my blog has been very positive in 3 aspects of my life:

1. It has allowed me to share my experience with the people in my life indirectly whilst also educating them about narcolepsy.
2. It has helped other people living with narcolepsy not feel so alone in their experiences.
3. It has been incredibly therapeutic to write down my journey and helped me to come to terms with many experiences.

As positive as it has been, I cannot describe what a difficult decision it was to make at the time. I knew I would have to share some personal aspects of my life, and I was very uncomfortable, especially since I value my privacy very much.

Living with no regrets

But it is in doing the things we most fear that we will grow. There is no way we can evolve if we continue to live in our safety zone. My biggest fear is to look back and regret all the things I did not do.

If you would like to read my story, please visit my blog: www.lifeinflashes.com. As I say in this blog: “Share a Story to Change a Story.”