The Girl With Arthritis

Once upon a time, we were all five year old children. Not at once- that would be a lot of kids. But none the less, at some point in time we were all five years old. We sat on the floor surrounded by a teacher who told us something wonderful: That we could do anything we want to be when we grow up. She read us stories about people doing incredible things. We were encouraged to follow our hearts and reach for the moon, because even if we missed it we would still land among the stars. And we were still told this as we got older. But I can't remember when they first said, "Follow your dreams- as long as they're practical ." I don't remember who taught us to question, "Is that actually a real job?" And every time I hear "You don't have to love what you do: You'll love your pay," my stomach does a little flip. This post is not about careers. This is about why we are told not to dream big. Humans push the boundaries of 'normal' ev...

Stress is a huge part of what makes autoimmune diseases flare. I love how everytime I read something on controlling autoimmune arthritis, it tends to say something along the lines of 'learn to control stress.' I feel as if that should be more of an instruction for bosses, teachers, and anyone else who seems to cause more stress in our lives. It might be up to us how we deal with it, but I can only do so much. We always say our health should come before anything else, and though it should, it won't always. At least for me. Maybe I'm burning myself out, but I've been pushing past a lot of pain and fatigue to get work and projects done. I'm a young person: I'm working to pursue my dreams. Maybe it's my age, but achieving dreams triumphs a lot right now. My rooms a mess, my Enbrel is off schedule by a day (not a big deal: I don't let that become a problem), I'm tired beyond belief and sore. Right now, so much is taking my priority. It will for a fe...

I've never had 'normal' dreams, but talking about them with my friends I guess no dream is really normal. I had heard once that people can control how their dreams go, but I'm not sure how much I believe this. My friend said that you can when your body is sleeping but your mind is not, and you control what you think. He said you're more or less paralized and whatever was on your mind before you go to sleep is what you dream. That sounds like the scariest thing ever because even though you think you were thinking about your sweet heart or your pet or baby, what if you were actually thinking of some horror movie as your mind drifted? You'd be trapped in that dream! Yikes!