Just Be You

I want to give a big shout-out to all the people living their lives to the best of their abilities despite illness. I know the struggle very well, and I know it’s not always easy to keep going. It takes a lot of will and a lot of courage to rise above your circumstances and make the best with what you’ve been given.

I have been thinking a lot about how significantly an illness can affect someone’s life these last couple of weeks. People keep asking me about my next book, and then get annoyed when I say next year. “Why can’t it be this year?” they say. “Other writers write three to four books a year.”

Well, I’m not like other authors, and not everyone is born with the same abilities. We were given different strengths, weaknesses, and resources.

I was diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in 2012. I can’t stay all day in the sun, hike or work for hours on end without getting tired, or be around sick people without catching what they have. (I guess that’s why I wrote a book about a girl who can’t get sick, because I know how it feels to constantly be tired and sick.) That is my reality, and I have accepted it. I make it work. I do me.

Life gives us hiccups, but we endure, and we survive. No matter what people say (and I know how cruel and insensitive some can be), just be you. Uniquely you. And be kind. You don’t know the battles people are fighting.