Last night, I had a little insomnia. Yes – I’m celebrating that. Not because I had insomnia, but because I haven’t had it in quite some time.

You see, in the last 10 years, I’ve had insomnia more nights than not. I’ve gone months with very, very little sleep. At one point, I was getting such little sleep that my organs were beginning to shut down and I truly think that if we had not gotten it under control, I would not have survived.

For the last year, I’ve actually been sleeping pretty well. I fall asleep fairly early and aside from dogs waking me up, I generally sleep until morning.

That’s such huge progress but it happened so slowly that I almost didn’t realize it. It isn’t until I look back over the last 10 years that I realize, holy cow, I’m doing better.

It’s easy to overlook progress when I still feel so awful. I still have pain. I still have debilitating fatigue. I still get light headed and short of breath. I still have bizarre reactions to foods and environmental issues.

It’s easy to focus on the things I can’t do – like bending over which makes me super weak and dizzy, like opening a plastic baggy because i have no strength in my fingers, like walking, hiking, exercising, housekeeping, etc. Life can just be hard.

But (last night aside) I’m sleeping through the night. And as small as that seems, it’s really a very big deal.

Wherever you are in your journey, don’t forget to take a look back once in a while – just to see how far you’ve come.