Introduction

I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia almost one year ago and narcolepsy about eight months ago. The fibromyalgia has completely changed how I expected my life to go. I graduated from the University of Louisville in May of last year with my bachelor's degree in music education. All through my undergrad I expected to get a teaching job as soon as I got my degree. After the worst student teaching experience before I graduated, though, with people being incredibly unfeeling and refusing to understand what I was going through, I realized I wasn't going to be able to have the full-time job I'd expected to get.

My fiancé got a teaching job in Florence, Kentucky, so we packed up and moved. We have a charming little apartment and two beautiful kittens. The thinking we had was that I would work on my health for a year and then apply for teaching jobs in the summer of 2013. We've been up here for just over six months and I still haven't figured out how to diminish my stress levels to the point I can introduce the great stress of taking a teaching job.

I've been trying to figure out how to make a meaningful contribution to society while being able to not stress myself out too much. I started the ChickOpinion blog in August. It had good success, so I started ChickOpinion.com in October. The site is doing alright, but because of some medication trials I was on for the fibro pain, the site suffered in December. I've been thinking about how to expand it and make it more than just an opinion site about the news.

This blog is going to be about my own journey with fibromyalgia and what I'm still learning that I can share with other young women to hopefully help them. So many of the books and websites out there about fibromyalgia are very medically-minded, which is fine, except that they don't talk about the societal or emotional effects of having fibro. I want this to be something that is specifically for young women because younger and younger women and girls (even in high school!) are getting fibromyalgia now and there is nothing out there that is able to give us ideas or tips on how to get through it in our 20's. I will try to keep the most positive disposition to make it fun, but, as you well know if you have fibro, not every day is a walk in the park!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi