I have a demanding and stressful job. But I am blessed with a good boss and supportive colleagues.
Knowing that you have lupus means you need to acknowledge your limitations. I tell myself there are things at work and life that I need to adjust if I want to keep my illness at bay. Thich Nhat Hanh, a leading monk and scholar of Zen Buddhism that I read in yesterday newspaper said and I quote him: "Without first knowing and loving ourselves, it is difficult to know and love others". So for me, I take it to mean aware of and accept what I am capable of doing now and what is happening to my body now so that I know when to charge and when to rest and relax. If I can do these well, it will keep lupus in remission. It is only with a heatlhy and positive me that I can know and love, attend to the needs of my loved ones and support my colleagues.
One of the things I adjusted is work. My medical leave ends this week, although the doc told me to let him know if I need more rest. I think it is better if I can ease back to work slowly since I still get tired easily especially with no quality sleep (yes, I am still dealing with my insomina as I do not want to depend on medication). My boss readily agreed to my idea of working from home for 2 weeks before I go back to office physically in Oct. With this arrangement, I can start to do some work, but lie on the bed to rest if necessary and it will also reduce infection risk (since air-conditioned office is full of virus and bugs and there will always be someone who is sick at work ;-).
