RA is a big part of our lives, and I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. But I do think we need to be careful to incorporate illness into the person we already are, rather than letting it become primary to our personalities. Not that that’s easy. There is so much to learn about RA, so much to get used to, so much pain and so many challenges. I think you almost HAVE to start thinking of your life in befores and afters – after all, everything changes.

That said, your personality shines through in everything you write about illness and about your life. You create beautiful things, you do fun things with friends, you work, you read. THAT is you. RA is now present in all of those things, but it’s not the most important thing.