A few months ago I read an article in Coastal Living magazine while on an airplane. The story itself was interesting, but I couldn’t help but think about the parallels into the life of someone living with fibromyalgia. The article was about a doctor of biomedical research, Dr. Gary Greenberg, who had invented 3-D HD light microscopes. His brother, trying to interest him to visit, sent Greenberg sand from an Hawaiian beach. Greenberg randomly decided to look at it through a microscope and was amazed at what he saw (you can see samples in the video below).

Each grain of sand was a little different, beautiful in its own way. By looking at it through a microscope he could learn more of the grain’s history – like what the little grain had broken away from. This new hobby became a way for him to more fully embrace nature. Greenberg became so hooked that he eventually moved to Hawaii. This new found project led to many opportunities, like gallery and museum exhibitions and a book. NASA event sent him samples of lunar sand from the Apollo 11 mission to photograph!

For me, this story resonates with fibromyalgia in three ways. One is that on the surface, it may seem like everything about the diagnosis is horrible, but when you really dig deep and learn more about yourself and the condition, you realize your life still has worth and can be fun. This is like how the sand is brown and dull when you look at it on a beach, but incredibly beautiful and unique when you look at it from the micro level. In another aspect, grains of sands all look the same from afar, but are so different when looked at individually. This reminds me of how so many people can’t tell we’re living with a chronic invisible condition from our outward appearance, but that we are. Even those of us who have fibromyalgia experience it differently, just like pieces of sand made of coral still look different up close.

The last correlation for me is because Greenberg found a new way to experience life and love it – something so many of us are forced to do when we have fibromyalgia. Sure, fibromyalgia is a little more complicated, but while reading this article I thought of us as beautiful pieces of sand on new life adventures.

Now, who’s ready for a beach vacation?!