During the last few hours I spent with her on Sunday, we talked a lot about this blog/website, why I did it as a full-blown website, and not just a blog, how long it took me to put it all together... etc. I hadn't actually thought much about the last item when she asked but as far as the other questions, I knew I wanted to create a resource that would not only be informative to other sufferers like myself, but to help promote awareness and support to people who are connected with misophonia indirectly. I'll never forget when that stranger across the aisle on the plane mentioned having seen the 20/20 report on misophonia (when she overheard me try to explain to a flight attendant about my sound sensitivity), I pulled out my cell phone in record time trying to Google the term misophonia before the door closed, and then when it did, I was chomping on the bit for the plane to touch the tarmac, so I could boot up my phone again and continue my search. After realizing I wasn't crazy, that there was a medical condition for my decades of suffering, I
Anyway, as we talked on Sunday, I was so touched when my friend said how, although she doesn't suffer from misophonia, she could relate to what I experience. She even told me about a time last December when she explored the website while on a business trip. She felt a bit overwhelmed in that busy city, and decided to hang back one night in her hotel room to decompress. She never told me until last weekend about having spent a lot of time going through the website on that business trip, which really made me feel good. In fact, it was a wonderful start to my week (which, unfortunately, didn't last very long...)
This week was rough, not just because of my typical, overwhelming workload. Several employees have quit over the past couple of months, including someone who had been here for nearly 30 years, and the principals decided to meet one-on-one with all the employees to get a pulse on employee satisfaction and figure out why the sudden exodusof late. I wasn't thrilled to have less than a day to pull my thoughts together, on top of all my other responsibilities, but despite all my own frustrations with the company, one of the few POSITIVE comments I was able to offer during my (nearly three-hour) meeting with them was how much I appreciate that the firm is willing to work with me to accomodate my misophonia issues within my work environment. I explained to the principal and to the director of my studio that there are so many misophonia sufferers who work in situations where the firm and coworkers are not tolerant or understanding to what sufferers go through, so it meant a lot to me that they are openminded to helping me minimize any potential contributions to my misophonia issues at the office. (Now, if they will only work on some of the understaffing and other issues we discussed...)
All I can say is that I'm looking forward to putting this stressful week behind me.