With an autoimmune disease, you become extraordinarily aware of how you’re feeling. Most days, I spend my time battling exhaustion and pain. It’s unfortunate because I’ve always been an ambitious person. I want to do more, create more, accomplish more. But I have limitations. Or at least I did, until I discovered steroids.

I had a dream last night—the kind that lingers, the kind that teaches you something about yourself that’s hard to learn while awake.