Looking back on 2013 and Looking forward to 2014

Well, 2013, it's been real.  Today's your last day.  Tomorrow we start fresh with a new year.
Highlights of 2013:  

• getting married in March and honeymooning in the Bahamas for a week.  :) 
• welcoming a new baby nephew in May 
• watching Joe & Georgi get married in June
• visiting my family over the summer and swimming in their pool
• vacationing in Old Fort in August and geocaching for the first time
• self-publishing my first poetry volume in September
• moving to Tennessee in November
• celebrating our first Thanksgiving and Christmas as husband and wife

It's been a good but hard year.  But as hard and frustrating as it has been, I wouldn't change anything.

I've decided that a gluten-free diet isn't enough...I need something more - actually, something less.  I need an even more limited diet.  I need an organic, simple diet like the hunter-gatherers had.  My antibody levels for Celiac may have dipped back down into the normal range, but I still feel sick to my stomach sometimes, as well as lightheaded when I stand up too quickly and nauseous when I shouldn't have any real reason to.  I know there's a lot of damage that's been done to my gut from processed foods and toxins that are being snuck into foods that are being labeled as "safe" to eat (but they're not, of course!).  My blood sugar numbers spike continuously and sometimes drop unexpectedly.  I really do hope that a simple diet like the SCD Lifestyle diet can help me get a handle on my gut healing and blood sugar numbers.  It will involve cutting out grains, starches, and other high carb foods, meaning I will eat nothing but meat (fish, poultry, red meat, etc), veggies, fruits, dairy, and nuts.  Yes, that means no bread, cakes, pies, pasta, cereal, etc.   Not even the "gluten-free" kind.

I want nothing more than to start this new year with that goal first and foremost in my mind.  I've been drifting aimlessly for too long and I have nothing good to show for it.  I want 2014 to be the year that I stop drifting and pick up my paddle and start rowing with a purpose, toward the prize I can't yet see.    

I also want to write more this year.  More poetry, more novel-writing, more blog articles and posts.  I need to make more of an effort to get my "art" on paper.

I'm still trying to decide which direction to take this blog.  2013 proved to not yield the results I was hoping for and I'm honestly surprised about that.  "Don't Kill With Your Words" was my highest viewed post with 465 views.  None of my other posts came anywhere near that number.  As much as I appreciate the traffic, I'm hoping to see a more consistant viewership in 2014 regardless of my post topic.  I guess we'll just have to see what happens.  And once I figure out what to do with this blog, I'll have my answer.

Anyway, may 2014 bring the changes for which we're hoping and the answers which we're seeking.

God bless.