WALK ANOTHER MILE IN MY SHOES

You're on top.

At your peak.

At the height of your career.

Life is good.

And then everything changes.

Think back to the worst flu that you've ever experienced. It's the kind of flu that makes every bone in your body ache so bad that you want to cry. When you try to lift your head up, it feels like there is a two-ton weight on your pillow. Even a little bit of light causes your eyes to quickly close. As you gingerly shuffle to the bathroom to look at yourself in the mirror, you know that there is NO WAY that you'll be going to work. All you want to do is to go back to bed and put the covers over your head but it even hurts when the sheets touch your hyper-sensitive skin. Everything hurts, everything aches and you wish you could be put out of your misery. The only reason you get through it is because you know it will be out of your system in a couple of days.

Imagine living like that every day.

Imagine no one believes you.

Imagine there is nothing that can be done for you. 

You feel a combination of fear and frustration because you keep forgetting things that you would normally remember. The fear and frustration is compounded because you want to get up and return to the work that you love. You want to do something, anything that will take the pain and fatigue away so that you can get out of bed and do something productive with your day. And then, feeling resigned, you go back to bed because even simple movements drain the last bit of energy that you possess.

Imagine the sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realize you can't go back to work.

Imagine the fear knowing your once bright future is now bleak and uncertain.

Every day that goes by becomes a struggle to overcome the stigma of an invisible illness. 


To the outside world you look fine. 


How is it possible that you find it so difficult to get up and get moving? 


How can you feel so sick when you don't look sick? 

Imagine now that nothing is being done to find out why.