Hello all, I'm having trouble finding "joy" as a narcoleptic. How do you find joy?

There's a tl;dr at the bottom

I've never posted here before, so here's a little about me: I was diagnosed with N w/o cataplexy roughly 8 years ago. I usually describe my Narcolepsy as being relatively mild when describing it to people, mostly I have EDS without much of the other symptoms. I am prescribed modafinil and don't usually have trouble with day to day.

I have been Keto since the beginning of June for energy, with mild success. I want to know others experience with keto as well, but will make another post about that.

I am male, and 28 as of today (it is in fact my birthday.)

Backstory: I went to a performing arts high school, and had hoped to pursue a career as an actor. However, with the onset of Narcolepsy, I found that I lacked the stage energy for acting, and in fact, theater people, who often exude energy, started annoying me. I also had a child at the beginning of college, which also sort of put a nail in the theater coffin. I struggled in my relationship with my child's mother, and we ended up breaking up, but we're on friendly terms now, we are co-parents, she is married, but she invites me to things like "Friendsgiving", for example.

Today, I find that my life is tired.

I find it difficult to find joy in life. I work as a cashier, which is very draining socially. On days that I am parenting, I often find it difficult to engage with my daughter, like she will want to do some project together but I don't feel like I have the energy. I also don't really enjoy my experiences, friends invite me out and I just want to leave. I watch t.v. show and I feel like it's time wasted. I play video games and I am frustrated that I am not doing so well. I find visiting with my family even to be exhausting, and I feel like they don't appreciate/understand what I am going through.

Many of my hobbies are things that I used to love, but kind of get bored with, overwhelmed by, or worst of all, I feel like I cannot perform at the same level as I had pre-N.

tl;dr: I don't enjoy things

So, what brings you joy? Are people happy with life even though they've got N? What are some things that you've added to your life now that make you happier, even if not more energized?

Submitted September 11, 2019 at 06:16PM by Tyydron https://ift.tt/30cuLER