About

2014 was a trying year for me, but as we know with any difficulty it ends up being our greatest teacher. I am bound and determined to use positivity, humor, knowledge, and hard work to make it so.  

I'm no stranger to pain and stress, but for most of 2013 and the beginning of 2014 I was feeling relatively healthy. I was eating good food and regularly showing off my moves at Zumba. Then, in May of 2014, negative things started to happen. My right leg started swelling and my pain got worse and was radiating from new places. I was diagnosed with a second autoimmune disease, but it didn't explain all the symptoms. I spent 6 months undergoing test after test culminating in a 5 day hospital stay that rendered no answers.

Between May and December of 2014, I faltered in my practice of positive thinking and fell into despair and unmanageable health anxiety. Through reading hundreds of threads on the internet while searching for answers I learned I was not alone. It seemed many of us had exhausted all of our options - but we still needed help.

Facing more questions than answers I started to get mad at myself. Why had I allowed negative thoughts to permeate my mind for 6 months? Why hadn't I been more mindful when I knew worry would only worsen my conditions? When was I going to finish that damn hat I started knitting last December?! 

I was at a crossroads, much like Britney Spears in the 2002 classic of the same name. We get at most 100 of these bad boys, so in 2015 I will get Better in One Year.

This blog is for anyone who is on a similar journey navigating chronic illness or shares my belief that there is always a path to better health.

Readers of this blog should note that I went to hippie school and never learned how to properly use the perplexing comma and other important punctuation. Please forgive me.