In the video game Fallout, players wander a wasteland trying to manage their health bar and scavenge for resources. This week, I realized my life isn't so different.

Welcome to the "Holiday Wasteland."

In this episode, I share the reality of trying to "hustle" through Christmas with a chronic illness. From a failed quest at the local Christmas Parade (where I forgot a crucial piece of equipment) to a new, bizarre symptom that sounds like a George Lucas movie in my ear, we are keeping it 100% real.

I also open up about the mental spiral of feeling like a "burden" to my family—and the one sentence my daughter said that stopped me in my tracks.

If you are entering the holidays feeling like your battery is blinking red, this episode is for you.

• The Fallout Metaphor: Why chronic illness feels like managing a depleting "Health Bar" in a survival game.

• The Parade "Fail": What happened when I tried to attend the Christmas Parade without my scooter (and the dizziness that followed).

• Symptom Spotlight: Dealing with tinnitus that sounds exactly like an Empire Battleship from Star Wars.

• Mental Health Check: Confronting the "I am a burden" narrative with a powerful reality check from my daughter.

• Teaser: Why I’m bringing my husband, Corby, on the mic next week to discuss the friction in our parenting styles.

• Catch the next episode: Subscribe so you don't miss the big interview with Corby in Episode 10!

• Let's Connect: https://linktr.ee/NoLongerAHustle

Have you ever woken up fully confident it was Thursday, only to be humbled by a robot telling you it’s actually Wednesday?

In Episode 8, Cassie navigates the "Infusion Brain" fog and shares the raw reality of the "Invisible Scoreboard." She breaks down her recent neurological test results—specifically the frustration of having a "Normal" cognitive score (25/30) while having an "Impaired" functional score (12/30).

We are also opening the doors to the "House of Fog," where Cassie and her husband are navigating marriage while battling spasticity and vertigo simultaneously. From fighting with insurance companies about transportation to the school bus leaving her daughter in the cold, this week was a lesson in system failures.

But there is a win: The "Car Nap." Cassie shares why pulling over for 10 minutes was a victory for her health, even if eating the crab rangoons later was a delicious, terrible mistake.

In this episode:

The Alexa Incident: Why confidence means nothing when you have infusion brain.

The Scoreboard: What a Functional Score of 12 actually looks like in daily life.

Doctor’s Office Tips: Why you need to write down your symptoms (and the difference between Neuropathy vs. Spasticity).

System Failures: Navigating the bureaucracy of insurance and school districts when you have zero spoons left.

The Rangoon Regret: An official breakup letter to gluten.

Quote of the Week: "My brain is writing checks my body can't cash. My cognitive score says 'Go,' but my functional score says 'We are closed for business.'"

Community Ask: Cassie is officially going Gluten-Free. Please send your best GF recipes that do not taste like cardboard to the show!

What happens after the crash? In this episode, Cassie steps away from the hustle to talk about the silence that follows. We explore the internal isolation of chronic illness—the feeling of your mind wanting to go 100 mph while your body hits the brakes.

Using the "Spoon Theory," Cassie breaks down the math of being sick: the cost of a shower, the price of a conversation, and the heartbreak of miscalculating your energy budget. This isn't just about being tired; it's about the guilt of having to say "no" to the people you love and the realization that you don't have to set yourself on fire to keep others warm.

Key Topics:

• The "Crash" and the illusion of support.

• Understanding Spoon Theory (and the "math" of energy).

• The double isolation: abandoning yourself vs. feeling abandoned by others.

• Why you are the anchor, and why you must tend to your cracks.