My Story, and Why I Started an Online Business (Part 2 of 2)

This is My Personal Journey of Self-Discovery, Life Lessons and Transformation that Awakened My Entrepreneurial Vision and Reignited My Sense of Purpose.

*Back to my story. If you have not read part one, you may want to do so before reading any further.

Living with chronic illness is exhausting in so many ways, especially if you are diagnosed at a young age. I felt like a wallflower or a party pooper as I tried to keep up with my friends’ active social lives and hold down a full-time career. I could no longer tolerate the all-night partying that I used to enjoy, hitting the clubs every weekend, drinking and dancing the night away. I would tire early and have to sit by myself feeling claustrophobic and physically uncomfortable while my friends had fun and wondered what my problem was. My boyfriend would accuse me of being lazy or even worse, he would dismiss my symptoms as being “all in my head,” telling me to stop being a “drama queen” and “playing the victim,” as if I were faking my symptoms to get attention.

I slowed my roll a bit, pacing myself at work and at home to manage my chronic stress. I had been advised by my doctor, as well as learning through personal experience, that stress triggered the auto-immune response at a cellular level, causing acute flare-ups and exacerbating my symptoms. Conversely, my feelings of general malaise, often feeling sick and tired to the point of being bedridden for days, would further increase my level of stress, and so the cycle of dysfunction was…