self-care

I’ve never been great at fitting neatly into so-called boxes, especially spiritual ones. I grew up exposed to many religions, from Jehovah’s Witnesses to Seventh-day Adventists. I even begged my mom to send me to Catholic school for a period during elementary school, and dragged my younger brother along. In…

If someone had told me years ago that my most consistent daily workout would involve tapping a screen like a caffeinated woodpecker, I would’ve laughed. Yet here I am, a proud neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) patient of 16 years whose newest addiction is playing mobile games. I play…

I’ve always loved bright lipstick colors. The bolder, the better, in my opinion. There’s something delightfully defiant that makes me smile about catching my reflection in a window and seeing a pop of fuchsia or fire‑engine red. It’s hard not to feel at least a little cheerful when your lips…

I’m a self-sabotaging, push-the-limits kind of gal. The worst kind of patient. The sort of patient doctors warn their interns about. Yes, I know I should be following their recommendations, nodding politely when I’m told what to do, but my neurologist and I both know that I probably won’t listen.

There are some days (or weeks) when it feels like the world is coming at you hard and there’s nothing you can do about it. Life can be messy. I had a day like that just last week. So how do you power through when everything is a priority, but…

I’ve been a list builder for as long as I can remember. Even as a kid, I found comfort in writing things down, mapping out what needed to be done, and crossing items off one by one. Lists gave me structure. They still do. I like to stay busy, not…

Ever get that quiet, nagging sense that something in your body just isn’t right? For me, it started with extra trips to the bathroom — nothing dramatic, just enough to make me pause. Before long, I realized I was dealing with yet another bladder infection. Living with a rare autoimmune…

It was one of those stressful moments when I simply did what needed to be done. My mother had been visiting us in the city for a couple of weeks, and I was sending her home on the train. Parking here in downtown Toronto is nearly impossible, so my husband…

Why does it seem like every Google search I do regarding my health blames my weakened immune system for whatever is happening on a particular day? Take, for example, one simple question I innocently asked: “Why are my feet so dry?” Suddenly, I was knee-deep in results suggesting I was…

I always feel like the start of a new year arrives with a certain amount of pressure. We make resolutions, talk about reinvention, and make quiet promises to ourselves that we’ll do better. As someone living with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD), that pressure can feel especially heavy. Chronic…