Happy May! Today kicks off the start of Celiac Awareness Month and it’s a month I always take to reflect on… the good and the bad that celiac has brought me! Not only is May celiac awareness but this year it also marks five years of me being diagnosed.
This journey has been quite the rollercoaster ride over the past five years for me. I’ve said this before, but after getting diagnosed I truly went through all the different stages of the grieving process. At times, it’s been hard…really hard… but overall I’m so blessed that this diagnosis saved my life and that I can say I’m a completely different (healthy) person today compared to five years ago!
A couple years ago I really was struggling to deal with celiac, and one day I decided to get all my thoughts out and write an open letter to the disease. I can remember that day like it was yesterday. I was sick in bed from getting glutened, computer on my lap and tears running down my face.
It took me a while to decide to share it with you all because I’ve never opened up like I did there… but I think it’s something we all can relate to at times.
Open Letter to Celiac Disease
I think I can honestly admit that it took me almost three years to face the fact that my life was never going to be the same and learn to deal with facing social events, vacations, etc. I’m not sure if I was in denial or if I just did a really bad job at following my diet because it felt like I was still always getting sick (it took me over a year to learn about cross-contamination). In year three something changed. It was as if I woke up one day and decided I had a choice… to either continue living how I was (getting sick and feeling sorry for myself) or to face celiac head on, make some changes and live my life fully.
Some of you may not know this, but I’m a Behavior Analyst. I literally analyze and change behavior for a living… but I couldn’t seem to change mine!
It was then I decided to take control back of my life and learned to make modifications for everything I used to love and not miss out on life any longer… this is when MsModify was born! 🙂
So needless to say, last May (for Celiac Awareness Month) my post was very different than the open letter to celiac. I decided to share all of the reasons I’m grateful for the disease. When I sat back and thought about my life, suddenly I realized how blessed I truly am and that nothing is more important than having good health (or feeling great!).
10 Reasons I’m Grateful for Celiac Disease
For this month I’m really excited to share with you all the wonderful responses I received from the different questions I asked regarding living with celiac. YOUR voices matter and I love the community we’re building together! So stay tuned for those posts throughout the month!
Now…
I want to ask you all- What do you want to see from MsModify??
As I plan for the future of MsModify I want to know what you’re interested in! – Please take my poll!
Loading ...I always want to make sure I create posts that you’re excited to read, so please let me know!! If there is something else you’d like to see that’s not listed, you can comment or email me (kristina@msmodify.com).
Also… don’t forget to keep up with me and my life on social media. Let’s be friends!
Our coeliac awareness month was back in March but I actually think it’s awesome that the US is in May because that means we get double the awareness posts!
It’s so important for non-coeliacs to realise just how serious coeliac disease is!
That’s true! When awareness months are different, we get to spread the cause throughout the year!