What was hard for me with Narcolepsy while working as a teacher?

    I have worked for more than 5 years as a secondary school teacher. Here I want to share what was especially hard.

・invigilating for term exams

・meetings with students and teachers

・ceremonies such as entrance and graduation ceremony

・school trips

・more than three-hour straight classes.

 

   The hardest thing was to be seen as lazy or unreliable by stuents. But I don't know whether they really lost confidence in me or not, but at least such bad conscience of mine sometimes prevented me from establishing a good relationship with them. 

   To sit quietly is a torment for Narcolepsy sufferers. Once you feel sleepy even slightly, that's the end. Pinching your arms doesn't work anymore. When I have to invigilate tests,  I make it a rule not to sit down. Instead, I keep standing as long as possible. Even though I get tired, I never sit in front of the students.  I carry a chair to the back and sit there, so as not to be seen to sleep. 

   In this regard, ceremonies, especially when teachers have to be on the stage facing students, are much worse. I had an experience of falling asleep without knowing on such an occasion. No doubt everyone was noticing me, but no one told me about it. I was so embarrassed later. 

   Meetings with students and parents are also harsh because if you fall asleep during the meeting, the parents and students will feel that I don't care for them. It leads to losing their trust in me, which makes it harder to cooperate with each other to grow the students. 

  

   School trips are awful. Teachers have to stay up late for watching students not to get out of their own rooms. After that, teachers have a meeting for the next day. Last time when I joined a school trip, I could sleep only 4 hours. Of course the next day I was half asleep all day. 

    In conclusion, for Narcolepsy sufferers,  to become a teacher is never easy. If there had not been for my colleagues' support, I would have given up much earlier. So, if you want to become a teacher suffering from Narco, I recommend you to find a person with whom you could share your suffering.