Before you were ever diagnosed with arthritis, Lupus, Sjogren’s or any disease for that matter, you were a rare gemstone cut with many intricate facets.   These facets represent all the talents, skills, roles and life-experience you acquired and continue to acquire throughout your life journey.

Prior to diagnosis, whether you were an artist, doctor, cab driver, teacher, etc., remember – you still are!!!   A positive diagnosis does not mean your memory has been erased; you still have a past to remember, a present to enjoy and a future to plan.  Every day that we face and deal with disease, we need to stop and take time to both recollect and celebrate the uniqueness each of us brings to the world.

Since diagnosis, you may now find yourself standing at this new train station in life wondering which direction to choose. To be sure, this is indeed an entirely new journey fraught with questions and concerns that perhaps seem overwhelming at times, but one direction to always consider is this:  Do not become your disease!  Promise yourself and forever remember your uniqueness is still so valuable and rare it must never be surrendered or compromised.  Steadfastly refuse to assume the face of illness.

There has never been anyone in the world exactly like you before and never will be again; celebrate that reality and always be who you were prior to diagnosis – the same brilliant gemstone who now just happens to be living with a disease and whose latest facet cut reflects that shining dignity and wisdom.