Lupus primarily targets women, as does the media. We are often inundated with photographs of young, thin, flawlessly airbrushed women who are the picture of what perfection is supposed to be. It’s the stuff that dreams are made of — and enough to give us low self-esteem. Many of us…
When I was first diagnosed with lupus, my cousin was kind enough to send me the link to Christine Miserandino’s “Spoon Theory,” to help aid me in the process of trying to explain what it’s like to live with a chronic illness. I read through it and understood…
Lupus is a pretty devastating disease, and those who do not have to deal with it firsthand, day after day, don’t really get to see that. Often, those who know someone battling it tell me about how that person is living a normal life, or how they have…
Lying in bed, scrolling though Instagram, I came across a post devoted to the promotion of self-love and healthy bodies. The caption told the story of how the girl pictured had spent a majority of her life hating her body and shaming herself into trying to match society’s…
When I pictured being in my twenties I had a few expectations. I didn’t expect to have everything figured out, but I assumed that I would have a rough idea about where I wanted to be and, more than anything, I thought that at least physically I would…
It is no secret that food is one our most basic needs. It provides the building blocks for strong and healthy bodies. People with lupus have the same requirements as everyone else, except we are a little more sensitive to the effects of food. Food for a…
Daily, we are bombarded with weight loss ads promoting the latest powder, pill, or apparatus that help us achieve that thin look we seem to think is better than the way we look now. I’ve always found many of the methods being advertised interesting; they rarely offer any real health…
The very first time I stepped onto Californian soil, in 2013, I was instantly in love with the different culture, how I was completely immersed in something so foreign to everything I’d ever known. My wanderlust was born. From that day on, I’ve planned my life around my…
When people hear about a lupus diagnosis, they don’t often think about what it really costs to have the disease. In fact, many who don’t know much about it think it can be “managed” and don’t really take it very seriously. Those of us who battle it daily know that lupus…
I’m exactly half of both of my parents. I have half of each of their facial features and if you know all three of us, you’d know from my stubbornness, determination, work ethic, and perseverance that there’s no possible way I could be anyone else’s child. Even as…