Here it is.  The last day of National Health Blog Post Month.  It also means the end of another month.  Seems like just yesterday I was sitting here thinking about what to write for my first post and wondering how I was going to do 30 in 30 days.

Looking back over the month I see I have come a long way.  I used to post about once a week and sometimes less than that.  I would look at my screen and not really know what to write.  It was definitely nice to have the topics given to us for the month so I didn’t have to worry about thinking about what topic to write about.

This past month has really opened my eyes.  I have read a number of stories on other blogs and have gotten to know some fellow IBDers a little better.  I also got to meet online some new people who really have some amazing stories.  One of them, Sarah, did an interview for me which was posted 2 days ago.  Sarah has come a long way in her journey and hopefully her little trip down the road will be easier now that she has our community behind her.

Speaking of journeys, I am thinking about the posts that were written about travelling with IBD.  I touched on the subject in 2 posts and actually had a lot of people without IBD reading them.  One response I got from my post on travelling was from someone with IBD and how on his bike ride through Spain he mentioned how he had to constantly stop on the side of the road.  I have heard so many of these stories lately that it has inspired me to start to help make a change in the USA. (See yesterdays post).

Not everything was happy with the posts.  I think about how open I became with my feelings.  I let out how I am still torn up inside over the loss of my father in law.  Writing about it helped me to realize that we all carry burdens with us, even when we aren’t thinking we are.   Accepting these burdens and acknowledging them help make us stronger in the end and it helps me to be a better activist.

Being an activist.  Something I never thought I would be.  In the past year though I have had the urge to help others.  My letter to new care takers is something I wish every new parent of a child with IBD would read.  It came from the heart and experience.  I was in such a dark place and no one knew it.  I had so much going on in my head that I didn’t want to share with anyone.  Now, I put it all down here for everyone to see and it truly makes me feel better.

Living stress free and free of burdens is something we all need to strive to do.  We all need to find an outlet to release our stress and my dog definitely helps.  Little Sable is such a great dog.  I don’t know how I ever lived without one before.  She can’t take away the burdens but she makes the stress just melt away.

And all of this brings me back to the first post of this series  –  Why I write about my health.  I write to relive my burdens.  I write so I can see my problems on paper and it makes it easier to tackle them.  I write to tell my story.  But most important, I write because of you.  I write for anyone that reads these post and realizes that they are not alone.

Thank you, whoever you are, for reading and possibly sharing these posts.  I hope I have eased your mind of your problems and taken some of your burdens.  I have come a long way in 30 days and have shared so much.  In 31 days, we have a new year.  Hopefully, we can lean on each other more for support and really bring our community together.  I look forward to the day when we can come together in a large crowd, stand tall, raise our hands in the air and say ” I have IBD and I am proud of it”.

Now that the month is done, I will probably take a small break from writing.  Holidays are coming and work is busy.  Life doesn’t stop though regardless of the times and if something pops into my head, you know I will be back here.  I look forward to the upcoming year and the challenges that it brings.