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Going against conventional thinking (breakfast for dinner anyone?) is key in happier living with RA. My column for HealthCentral dives into the unspoken rules that guide our lives and how breaking them can help you have less pain, fatigue, and guilt:

“I HAD CEREAL for dinner. Again. While crunching my way through a bowl of cornflakes dotted with plump raisins and slices of banana, I felt both content—it’d been a painful day and the flavors were like a hug for my tastebuds—and vaguely guilty. Dinner time is for proper meals, hot ones with protein and greens my mind opined with a sniff. At that moment, no “proper meal” could make me happier than this bowl of breakfast food that took no time and energy to prepare. I began thinking about the rules we follow every day—could breaking them make life with chronic illness easier?

This is not about the kind of rules that are written down in law. There are good reasons you should wear a seatbelt, care for your children, and pay your rent or mortgage on time. And I do have some non-negotiable rules for managing my RA: I always take my meds, write in my gratitude journal daily, and my mandatory afternoon rest period (aka nap) is sacred. But every day we also follow hundreds of unspoken rules, many of which can make life very difficult when you have rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or any other type of chronic health condition.”

Read my column on breaking the rules to live better with RA on HealthCentral.