May 23, 2023 Columns by Jamie Hughes The positive power of the creative life I don’t know why I find it so impossible to sit still. I feel like every moment I’m not engaged in some creative pursuit, I’m somehow missing out. Or worse, I’m squandering what poet Mary Oliver calls my…
May 9, 2023 Columns by Jamie Hughes A different perspective can help us make the most of delays, setbacks As hard as it is to believe, another school year is drawing to a close. It still somehow takes me by surprise every time. It feels like just yesterday that I was buying new shoes and helping my eldest…
April 25, 2023 Columns by Jamie Hughes Hardships and the good life: Why our mental approach to MS matters I don’t really like problems. And I don’t think I’m alone in this. No one I know wakes up hoping a seemingly insurmountable obstacle or painful trial is flung smack in the middle of their path. If it were…
April 11, 2023 Columns by Jamie Hughes Go ahead, you’ve earned it: The benefits of MS self-care Well, dear reader, my time in Florida is coming to an end. Mom is home from the hospital after her surgery and a stint in rehab. She has begun outpatient physical therapy, and slowly but surely, she’s getting…
March 21, 2023 Columns by Jamie Hughes There’s so much to gain: Finding the upside to being ‘broken’ with MS I have a friend who’s truly blessed. Aside from the typical struggles that come with being an adult, he has few problems. Seriously. Neither he nor a loved one has had any major medical issues. No one in his…
March 7, 2023 Columns by Jamie Hughes Kindness matters because you never know what others are going through I’ve always liked the quote, “Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.” Some folks think it was penned by the Scottish author Ian Maclaren (sometimes MacLaren). Others attribute the quote…
February 21, 2023 Columns by Jamie Hughes Thankful for caregivers: What MS has taught me about support It’s been a couple weeks since my last column, and things with my mother have proven more challenging than we expected. She’s had another minor procedure to stop fluid from building up in her chest, but she is…
February 7, 2023 Columns by Jamie Hughes Marching onward: What MS has taught me and trained me to bear Well, dear readers, I took a bit of time off from writing this column, but not by choice. January was an incredibly hectic 31 days, and I spent most of them living with my parents in Florida. Why?…
January 10, 2023 Columns by Jamie Hughes Time Is (and Isn’t) on Your Side: How MS Helps Us Know What Matters One of my favorite episodes of “I Love Lucy” is the one where Lucy and Ethel get up to some hijinks (and don’t they always?) in a candy factory. You know the one. At first, the bonbons…
December 27, 2022 Columns by Jamie Hughes I Am What I Am: Embracing the Highs and Lows of MS If there’s one thing those of us who have multiple sclerosis (MS) know all too well, it’s that life requires balance. Fellow columnists and I have written about the need to find a happy medium when…
December 6, 2022 Columns by Jamie Hughes ‘What’s the Worst That Can Happen?’: On Facing Fears With MS Well, dear readers, I finally did it. The recital I’ve been telling you about finally took place after several long delays and a good bit of scrambling, and all those singing lessons were finally put on display…
November 22, 2022 Columns by Jamie Hughes Sweeter Than Honey: Finding the Balance That Works for You I’m a fairly neat and tidy person, but you wouldn’t have thought that if you’d looked in my kitchen over the last few weeks. Bottles of oils, jars full of melted wax, bags of butters and soaps, and boxes…
November 8, 2022 Columns by Jamie Hughes Switching to an Oral MS Medication Is a Hard Pill to Swallow In one of my favorite scenes of the 1970s movie “The Goodbye Girl,” Paula McFadden (played by Marsha Mason) begs Elliot Garfield (played by Richard Dreyfuss) to quit playing the guitar late at night when he can’t…
October 11, 2022 Columns by Jamie Hughes Better Than Fiction: What Living With MS Has Taught Me About My Own Story A voracious reader since childhood, I’ve often lost myself inside fictional worlds — often preferring them to the real one where I’m forced to live. This was especially true when I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) almost…
October 4, 2022 Columns by Jamie Hughes When the Words Just Aren’t There: The Challenge of Talking About MS There’s a poignant scene in “Forrest Gump” in which the title character and his best friend, Jenny, walk up to the shack where she was raised (and was raped and abused by her drunken father). She stares…
September 20, 2022 Columns by Jamie Hughes May I Help You?: Why Accepting Assistance Is Always the Wisest Choice My eldest son just started high school, which makes me feel both incredibly old and somewhat proud of myself for surviving this long. People have been telling me the teenage years are the hardest, but I have a leg…
September 6, 2022 Columns by Jamie Hughes What a Novel Idea: The Many Benefits of Predictability When I was a kid, I adored novelty. I always wanted something different to experience, a new place to go. In my mind, there was nothing worse than doing the same thing week in and week out. However,…
August 23, 2022 Columns by Jamie Hughes It’s OK Not to Be OK: What to Do When You Feel Stuck in a Rut For the last few months, I’ve been mired in something I can only describe as a funk. My job, my family, my faith, my entire life — no matter what aspect we’re talking about, I felt like I was…
August 5, 2022 Columns by Jamie Hughes Discovering What It Takes to Survive in These Troubled Times Unless you’ve been living under a rock or are somehow lucky enough to live on your own desert island, you’ve probably noticed that things are kinda difficult these days. I mean, COVID-19 is still a thing, and now…
November 30, 2023 Columns by Benjamin Hofmeister Is multiple sclerosis everywhere, or am I just more aware of it now?