Seeing as I’m still relatively new to blogging I thought I’d follow along with the daily post’s Zero to Hero prompts.

I’m a little behind but the first prompt was to write a post introducing yourself and your blog.

Obviously I had already done this when I first began blogging but I thought this might be a good opportunity to reintroduce myself, as I have quite a few new followers, and to outline what I’m hoping to achieve this year with my blog.

Why am I here?

I’m here because I felt the need to share my story and to connect with others who could understand what I was going through.

April last year I was struck down with extreme abdominal pain that the Emergency Room doctors could not work out what was causing it. Almost immediately after that other pains and extreme fatigue (not the right word but I can’t think of a better one right now) and brain fog set in as well. Although I attempted to keep working for the first month of this, work eventually decided that their duty of care lay in telling me to stay home. I am very grateful they did as I really wasn’t being as productive as I usually was and the pain and exhaustion was so extreme I wasn’t even managing a full day in the office.

That began a journey of doctors visits and questioning of what was wrong and how we could fix it. No doctors yet have been willing to put their neck out and give a definitive diagnosis of what is wrong, however Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS) and Fibromyalgia is the main diagnosis that they are leaning towards; one doctor has written Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Chronic Pain on one of my doctors certificates for work. I have also been diagnosed with Pelvic Congestion Syndrome.

My life as a knew it is currently on hold, and I have been spending my time planning a way forward. I now know deep down that even if I make a full recovery, which at this stage is still questionable, I need to make some changes to my life. This brings us to the next big question…

What do I want to achieve in 2014?

I have already outlined my aspirations for 2014 in terms of my life with a particular focus on my physical, mental, and spiritual health so I don’t feel the need to reiterate that; you can follow the links to read about it.

In terms of this blog, I am hoping to raise awareness of these invisible conditions that I have and to connect with more like-minded individuals who are journeying along a similar path to me; a path of self discovery. It doesn’t matter where you are starting from, sick or healthy, no idea or clear picture of where you want to be, I am interested in sharing my journey and learning from others along the way. I also want to strengthen the friendships I have already built in my first few months of blogging. The community here is just so supportive and caring and I love being a part of it.

So far in this blog I have managed to post every day, other than the week off between Christmas and New Years. This year I will not necessarily be aiming for this, as I believe to achieve my aspirations for 2014 I need to be getting out and participating in a wide variety of activities. However, I do aim to post at least 3 times a week (once for each of the focus topics for this year) and I will be posting other posts as I write them. I’m just not going to say I NEED to make sure there is a post up every day.

I hope this year will open up new opportunities for all of us. I have a couple of large exciting projects that I am just in the beginning stages of planning and these will be shared with you as they get closer to fruition. At least one of these projects I’m hoping will promote more interaction between myself and my readers, and also between fellow bloggers. I also hope to be able to get some guest blogging ocurring (both on my blog and as me guest blogging for others).

2014 would be considered a successful blogging year if I manage to educate at least 12 new people about ME/CFS, Fibromyalgia and Pelvic Congestion Syndrome and I have at least one guest blogger on my blog and I guest blog on at least one blog.

I look forward to sharing 2014 with you and I hope all our dreams and aspiriations can move towards becoming realities as we move along this journey of life.