2014 Year in Review

Overall 2014 has been a good year. It started off a little rocky, but it improved as the year progressed. In the fall I was able to return to my classes, and we even took that trip to Mexico that we had to put off in January. My back is still giving me issues and Fibro still sucks, but I’m still fighting. The diet changes I made back in 2012 are still holding up and still (I believe) helping me greatly.

2014 was a good year for my blog, too. Over the summer I upgraded my blog (FINALLY!) from blogger to a self-hosted WordPress blog. I knew I should have done it long ago; I can’t regret that I didn’t as what’s done is done, but I’m certainly glad that I finally did make that change. Thousands of new people have found their way here in the months since I made that change, many times thanks to you sharing my posts. It means a lot that my posts have resonated enough that you wanted to share them. These were the top 10 posts written in 2014. The ones that you enjoyed enough to share with your friends.

1. The Impact of Chronic Illness on a Marriage – This post discusses the negative impacts that Fibromyalgia and Chronic illness can have on marriage, and a couple of ways to avoid them.
2. Communicating Your Needs When You Have Chronic Illness – A unique way of sharing your limits and needs when you live with chronic illness.
3. Sunday Inspiration: Letting Go of Guilt – Guilt is a terrible demon; unless we can let it go it will drag us down and continue to make us feel worse.
4. 6 Things the Chronically Ill Wish Healthy People Could Understand – Healthy people will never understand what it’s like to be chronically ill. These are six things in particular that we wish they could understand.
5. 10 Things You Should Never Say to Someone with Fibromyalgia – There are many things we wish our healthy friends and family would say, but these are 10 things that you shouldn’t say.
6. The Slow Death of Compassion for the Chronically Ill – This post introduces a video by Ken McKim where he discusses the slow death of compassion for the chronically ill. He has since began producing a series of videos over at Don’t Punish Pain.
7. Are these 7 Habits Increasing Your Fatigue? – 7 life habits that may be making you feel worse, increasing your fatigue and chronic pain.
8. What’s in a Migraine Cocktail? – Answering a question from a reader about what is in a migraine cocktail that is administered at some emergency rooms.
9. 10 Commandments of Fibromyalgia – Actually 13 Commandments of Fibromyalgia (and chronic pain).
10. Fibromyalgia and Sex: The Unspoken Reality – An extension of the impacts of chronic illness on marriage, this time covering a much more specific topic.

I’m looking forward to what 2015 brings, hopefully that includes a finished Bachelor’s degree, and many new friends.