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I try to be honest about my shortcomings, but I have always struggled with asking for help. If you frequent my column, you may have realized that I’ve been missing in action. I was struggling and pushing my body to the extreme, when all I needed to do was stop…

I’ve never been great at asking for help. Ever since I was a kid, I always thought that asking for help meant I wasn’t as smart as everyone else. I was also petrified to ask a question that others would laugh at. There wasn’t a certain event or moment…

We’ve all experienced a time in our lives when we missed an important event. Maybe work prevented us from attending a family get-together, or perhaps celebrations were too far away to attend. Regardless of the reason, we’ve all felt that disappointment about missing out on a significant occasion. For those…

Lately, with the help of a new therapist, I’ve been making significant progress with my mental health. Looking forward to activities and planning for the future seems a little easier for me now, a year after my myasthenia gravis (MG) diagnosis. Still, as others with MG might understand, our minds…

For as long as I can remember, my definition of success hasn’t wavered much. It didn’t matter if I was playing in a Little League game or preparing for a job interview, success always meant having the most, conquering others, and being the best. I could argue that my…

The most devastating blow since my myasthenia gravis diagnosis a year ago has been the loss of my career path, which was my passion. My symptoms began a month before the last semester of my undergraduate degree. Although I am eternally grateful that I received a rapid diagnosis, with that…

I was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis (MG) at the self-centered age of 19. Ah, 19, that beautiful age when we think no one else in the world has worse problems than we do. While I wasn’t a total monster at that age, I was handling my problems in unnecessarily dramatic…

Kindness is not a pass for people to take advantage of us or treat us poorly. We can be compassionate and still say no to being treated inadequately. Those of us with myasthenia gravis (MG) are not responsible for other people’s reactions or their inability to adjust to our boundaries…

Life with chronic illness is a constant game of comparison. I either compare myself with my healthy peers, or with other medically complex young people. Recently, I’ve found someone new to compare myself with: the healthy version of me that lives in a parallel universe. I’m currently responding well to…

For the past three years of my life, August has been one of the most stressful months of the year. For others, August often is the beginning of that weird time between summer and fall. But for teachers like me, it’s the start of a new school year. From…