a diagnosis can('t) define my life

As a lupus patient , i can't spend a lot of time in the sun because it causes my antinuclear antibodies to act up. Essentially, Lupus is a disease where your body becomes allergic to itself, causing chronic organ rejection and inflammation of my organs, skin, muscles, and arteries, and being in the sun makes the body think there is an intruder. if i spend 30 minutes to an hour in the sun i will end up spending a few days with stomach flu symptoms and respiratory decline. People consider Lupus an "invisible illness" because it is hard to tell if you have an autoimmune disease by looking at somebody. often times i will have a red rash that spreads across my nose and over my cheeks. it burns and itches like poison ivy. When i was a kid i loved spending time outside, there were specific tress in the woods behind my childhood home that i would sit and read books for hours. being inside made me feel trapped, it felt unnatural. now that summer is my immune systems enemy, i have to find peace elsewhere. I've hung fairy lights, pictures, posters, and a collage of photos in my bedroom. i have dark curtains over my window to block the light, but i open the window for fresh air. its fall, and there is mostly cloudy weather, so going outside is not a danger as much, but with the chill in the air my joints are swelling and my sinuses are pounding with pain. My boyfriend Matt has been pushing me to the library in my wheel chair to help me get a change of scenery. Having an illness certainly changed my life, but it hasn't made it worse. as i have written before, its hard to find peace when your happy place is unaccessible. learning to be a person of hope after a big change like becoming ill is difficult, but i think if i hold to my passions and values it will not be hard to remain the same person i was, just with different challenges.