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We exist in a perpetual journey of personal development, always trying to become the best version of ourselves, or at least the most stable one. Yet even people who are not actively seeking happiness may still spend their time running away from their problems. But how can you do that…

Some days it feels as if the world has slipped its moorings. Around the globe, the news is grim and relentless, and living with myasthenia gravis (MG) can intensify that sense of instability. When your body is unpredictable, outside chaos lands harder. Lately, though, I’ve been doing some reflecting.

Loving your body is easy advice to give when your body behaves. When it wakes up when you do, moves when you ask, and carries you through the day without protest. But when you live with myasthenia gravis (MG), the relationship you have with your body becomes something far…

I live in Manila, Philippines, while my twin brother, Aaron, still calls our hometown of New York City home. Depending on daylight saving time, there is about a 12-hour time difference between us. When it’s morning or afternoon here in Manila, it’s early evening or late at night in New…

I try not to be obsessed with assessing my symptoms of myasthenia gravis every morning. I try to let things be and simply accept whatever my body decides that day. But it always ends the same way. I am in pain, and I am not healthy. A sad reality…

Last week, my husband rescued me from feeling like the Scarecrow in “The Wizard of Oz” — as if I didn’t have a brain, weighed down by stubborn brain fog that lingered far too long. He wrote about his perspective on my breast reduction surgery, which made me realize…

I was shocked when I learned recently that my twin brother, Aaron, had suddenly become lactose intolerant at age 50. He was diagnosed after becoming violently ill from adding cheese to a beef empanada. It was quite a blow to him. As New Yorkers, we grew up on milk and…

People have always searched for explanations when confronted with suffering that feels arbitrary or unjust. Before modern medicine, illness was blamed on gods, fate, moral failure, or contagion of the soul. In “The Plague,” Albert Camus described how people cling to meaning in the face of senseless disease, warning…

I was recently asked if I choose to protect my loved ones from the reality of my myasthenia gravis (MG) by hiding certain parts of the disease so they won’t worry. The question made me realize something I’d never clearly named before: I wear a constant mask. I cover…

This week was jam-packed with appointments. When it came time to sit down and write or edit something worthy of y’all, my brain gave me the big ol’ middle finger for multiple days in a row. Enter my husband. I’ve talked about him before. He has been my caregiver…