Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Putting Dreams to Rest

(I have been avoiding writing this particular post (and thus, avoiding writing anything here at all) for about a month now. It's a particularly emotional update for me, which can be so scary to put online for everyone ever to read. But here goes.)

Waking up every day with RA is the hardest thing I've ever done. In the last month or so, I have gone from feeling as if every small victory counted to feeling like I have no small victories at all. Living every day in this body is an uphill battle, and a discouraging one at that. Sometimes, after an entire night of fruitless attempts at sleep, I'm so physically exhausted that I lie in bed until 4 in the afternoon. Sometimes it takes that long just to convince myself to get up and face the pain. I'm wearing a pretty dress right now, not because I feel particularly attractive in it (let me assure you, I don't) but because it's so much easier to throw a dress over my head than to try putting pants on for two hours.

In the midst of all of this, I started school once again. While I am thrilled to focus on something besides how utterly horrible I feel, I can't help but miss campus a little bit. Online courses are a WONDERFUL resource for a student like me, but being trapped in my apartment because I can't get up the stairs has begun to bring me down, down, down into the depths of RA depression.

As I try and shuffle through each day, I've begun to think about my options for the future. Because really, what are they?