Hiya folks,
How have we been? Don’t answer that, I know how most of us have been & will probably continue to be for the next foreseeable future. It’s getting rougher & rougher out there. I first want to welcome you all back, welcome you into 2025, & get all the pomp & circumstance out of the way. This blog will serve partially as a way of reigniting things here, partially as an update & where I’ve been, & partially as a “things to come” posting. So, if you’re into the idea of all of that, stick around & enjoy the read!
I initially planned today to be part one of my Australia blog, if you follow me at all on any of the socials out there you will know that I’ve been abroad for the last two plus weeks. I have about half of the first blog written out in its base form but it still needs another couple of days worth of content, editing, & photo integration. I will go ahead & let you know that it will be next week’s blog & it will cover Evan & my time in Sydney. I need you all to hold me to that. And yes, yes, I know, I know, I promised you all a New York City travel blog back in November on two separate occasions, but let’s be real & honest, shit hit the fan & it ended up being too much for me to handle mentally. Sorry if that upsets you or is a let down, but I have to prioritize my heath & well being first & foremost & November/December were truly a rough patch for me.
Diving farther into thaaaaaat I’m going to be entirely real with you all. The election gave me an ulcer. It stressed me out so bad that I developed a stomach ulcer & it got so bad that at one point I could only eat a couple of bites of food before I felt like I was going to vomit. The foods I could eat were mostly whole foods; fermented soy products (miso), veggies, fruits, fish, chicken, & sourdough bread. Because most food made me incredibly nauseous, I ended up being only able to consume about 1,000-1,500 calories a day, about half of my daily recommended for lil ole six foot, four me. I cut out alcohol as well as most fatty &/or processed foods as well as any medications or supplements that may have been inflammatory to my stomach. I even took omeprazole (Prilosec) to help minimize the effects of my stomach acid. For the most part that seemed to be helping, that is until Thanksgiving. At thanksgiving I decided to be indulgent & in addition to eating way too much of whatever, I also had two glasses of a nice red wine which I proceeded to throw up all night long that evening. Upon returning to Nashville I had a series of tests run just to cut out any other possibilities such as gallbladder or liver issues, which came back clear, & I restarted my progress & my forced sobriety. In addition to the stomach B.S. I was also struggling with general post election anxiety & stressed which quickly dipped me, full tilt, into my seasonal depression.
So yeah, that’s where I ended up for the past couple of months. I would sit down to write but all I felt was dread or apathy. I one night started at the flashing icon of the text indicator on my blog entry screen for about two to three hours. All that ever got written was the word “blog:” in the title section. Additionally the months of November & December were incredibly busy for me. I was in a wedding, went to two separate Thanksgivings on either side of the country, then had Christmas…which I ended up leaving early, then had to come home, pack, & get the house in order to depart two days later for our Australia trip, of which we got back from three days ago.
I kept my forced sobriety (I say that as if I drink like a fish, I probably have a drink or two max a week) until we went to Australia. My hope was to give my stomach the last week of November & all of December to recoup & see how it did. On the 30th we went out to dinner with friends (more on that in next week’s blog) & I got a spritz, just to see how I’d do. I was totally fine. In actuality, I ended up being totally find the entirely of Australia. I ate whatever I wanted, drank whatever I wanted, had fatty foods, coffee, alcohol, citrus, etc. & was totally fine…until I got back to The US at which point my stomach immediately started acting up again…
Australia aside, I’ve been going through it, but we’re back now, I’m pushing through to the best of my ability even though my ‘fight or flight’ is fairly constant for the time being & the jet lag is keeping me from properly sleeping, but I at least wanted to fill you all in. I know several of you have reached out to ask about the absence of posts & blogs & I felt I owed you an explanation, especially since so many of you come to this site week after week to read my ramblings & thoughts. I’m always incredibly grateful for that & I hope you don’t feel neglected, abandoned, or taken advantage of in any way. As I said though, I need some time off to regulate & recalibrate. While I don’t necessarily think I’m all the way there yet, life has to go on & sometimes you need to push through & reestablish the routing so that you can keep your head above water & get through it all one day at a time.
I hope the last two months were a joy for you all, I hope you feel refreshed & excited about your futures. I hope 2025 has treated you well thus far & I look forward to sharing this space with you all once again,.
As always, much love to you all,
-C