It’s taken me 15 years to give life to these words, and to be honest, I’m still not sure if I should. My journey with Multiple Sclerosis has been terrifying, unyielding, challenging, and strangely freeing. It’s taken me this long to get the words out as I’ve never really felt at home in the MS community and I still don’t. What I have learned over the last decade and a half is that’s a self-defeating sentiment. Our journeys are our own. Just because my symptoms and experience don’t align with the other blogs I’ve read is not a good reason to deny my truth.
This blog is meant to help me find my voice. To this day I rarely disclose my diagnosis to others and can’t bring myself to participate in support groups. I’m fearful when I see others with MS who are debilitated by this disease and avoid making connections with the few people who can actually relate to what I’m going through. I’ve never felt as though I fit in here, but it’s time I made room for myself. This is my story, my truth, my life. While this is, at it’s core, a selfish undertaking, I hope that these words can help someone else get their story started.