Over the past few weeks, a few people have asked me how I am possibly able to continue teaching at the university on a daily basis, while living with all of the challenges that I describe here on my blog. I realized that when I wrote the following words here on my blog, a little [...]
Normally, I would right now be declaring that I am once again in a flare…but after a few months of being in this situation, I have started to realize that it’s no longer “just” a matter of being in or out of a flare. The entire baseline of my disease activity has dramatically shifted, and [...]
A couple of weeks ago, I seriously began to wonder if I was going to be ready to return to classes this semester. Even though I love teaching, the mechanics of the situation just did not seem to be cooperating. If I wasn’t able to get out of bed, I certainly wouldn’t be able to [...]
“Let go of the tendency which we all have to want things to be different from how they are right now, and allow things to be exactly as you find them. Allow yourself to be exactly as you are.”
-Jon Kabat-Zinn, Guided Mindfulness Meditation
Quite often, when I am in a flare, I began to distance myself [...]
Continue reading about Accepting And Enjoying Life, Just As It Is
Late this morning, I had a moment of panic. It had just taken me an hour to get out of bed, take a bath, groom myself, and get dressed, when I thought ahead to the rest of my day: physical therapy followed by hours of teaching . It all seemed too much to deal with.
I [...]
Continue reading about Asking For Help Does Not Mean Giving In
Rheumatoid Arthritis Guy’s past three weeks have been some of the busiest ones that he has had in years. Think: leaving the house at 6:45am, returning to the house at 9:00pm, and then working for another few hours until midnight in order to be prepared for the following day.
While I would definitely not attempt to [...]
After correcting 714 class work assignments, 306 homework assignments, 204 quizzes, and 306 twelve-page exams, one of my classes came to an end last week. One of the nicest aspects, beyond the actual teaching and getting to know my students, was reading the comments that were left on my evaluation forms. Under “professor’s strengths”, the [...]
In my last post, I spoke about an upcoming schedule change – instead of spending my mornings at the university, I would now be spending my afternoons at the university.
As luck would have it, during the past few weeks my most difficult moments had been sometime during the afternoon. I wasn’t exactly sure how things [...]
