Feeling Thankful

thankful

Many studies have shown that being thankful leads to a happier life. And heck…who doesn’t want to be happier??

So I’ve recently started a new habit. Every day, I name three things I’m thankful for. Yes…they should be said out loud. No…they don’t all have to be deep. Just anything I’m grateful for. Looking around my space right now, I’m thankful for the following:

  1. I’m thankful I work for myself.
  2. I’m thankful my two puppies hang with me in my home office.
  3. I’m thankful for a sunny day.

Yep, it’s that easy.

How about being thankful you have celiac disease? Here’s an email I just received this morning. It’s kind of a rant, but a thankful one. Yeah I know that makes no sense but just humor me and read the following.

When you discover that your poor baby…now officially has the trilogy of fun autoimmune diseases, coeliacs, vitiligo, and just today…fresh off the press…. hypothyroidism… who do feel you need?

Your family? No, they will say things like it all right, you take good care of him, he will be fine, or you end up reassuring them that it’s not a big deal really. Your friends? No, they will say it’s not so bad; just a few more pills and look what a good happy boy he is. Your doctor? NO, he will say here’s a script.

The first person I thought I needed was a dude in a universe… far…. far….. away.

Thank you for providing a place where I can say “What the fuck. My poor baby. It seems so damn unfair.” Normally we are a ‘happy to be gluten free and happy to have coeliacs’ family but I feel so angry. For all the times I knew something was wrong and I took him back and forth to doctors…who…oh just guess…surprise !!!! said nothing wrong with this kid, but perhaps his mother needs a happy pill.

Thank you for providing the only place on the planet where I can sit in tears and say…damn this disease. I feel so lucky to have it…and only it….as I watch patches of white creep across my child’s face.

Thank you – you beautiful soul. It is the only place where with not an ounce of self pity, we can just say FUCK THIS.

As I’m putting the finishing touches on my eBook, self-doubt has begun to creep in. Is this a piece of sh*t? Does anybody care what I have to say? Will I be helping the community I care so dang much about? Will I make a million dollars?

Then I get the email above and instead of self-doubt, I feel gratitude. For being an outlet for a disease that can be maddening at times. For ONLY having celiac disease…knowing many, many people have it so much worse than me. For making friends that I wouldn’t have if I didn’t have this blog. For being able to HELP PEOPLE. Cause at the end of the day, that’s what we’re put on this earth for. Not to satisfy our own greed and desires, but to help others.

So what are you thankful for today?

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13 thoughts on “Feeling Thankful”

  1. I am thankful for a husband and three adult children who love me, and get my dietary restrictions. I am thankful for my two birds even the one that invariably starts talking at 6 A.M. I am thankful for every day regarlesss of the weather. I am thankful for God and my faith. I am thankful for you, and all my online friends.

  2. Your blog is the most honest helpful place to get real information about Celiac disease. I never buy books about Celiac anymore because many of them are rubbish, rehash of what I know or self serving. But I will buy your book because you make me laugh, make me realize I am not going crazy and that I am not alone

  3. I am thankful that my son is not only alive, but that he is well. He was diagnosed in 1953 with that “new disease” called celiac disease. Treatment at that time? A diet based on bananas. He was one of those “celiac banana babies”.

  4. I’m thankful that my daughter told me that she doesn’t mind having celiac disease. I’m thankful that a couple weeks ago we got her iga-ttg test back and for the first time since she was diagnosed 2.5 years ago it was under 20. It was 130 when she was diagnosed and this time it was 5.1! And I’m thankful that she is finally getting a good appetite and starting to grow like a weed!

  5. I am thankful for Sunday mornings, reading blogs with good music playing in the background, jazz, and that coffee and bacon are gluten free.

  6. ELOISE GAUGLER

    Love you Dude! I look forward to your posts. I come from what I call the “dark ages” of celiac disease and gluten free food – 27 years – diagnosed in 1990 at age 34 (I know – I’m old). Gratitude is everything – its life changing. Keep that theme going please! Seasoned Celiac

  7. I am thankful that my son was diagnosed 6 years ago, at the age of 7, so that he didn’t go for years eating wheat & not realizing what it would do to him. I’m thankful that I found your site a couple of weeks ago, and even though my obstinate teenager refuses to read it himself. I know he will at the right time, when he needs it the most.

  8. I am grateful for Independence Day, my personal GF anniversary. I am grateful I discovered real, unprocessed, delicious foods. I am grateful for my dog who pushes her muzzle against my face when I don’t think I can go on. I am grateful for Gluten Dude who responded to my privet letters with compassion and understanding. I am grateful for the sunshine, the rain, humor, flowers, kitties, a home, heat, clean water, organic food, gardens, soft blankets and bathrobes, hot dryers and ice baths, pain relief, progressive thinkers and kindness, clean drinking water, salt and gf spices, gf tea, clear mind, hugs, children’s laughter and hugs. I am grateful that I am alive, that I was strong enough to hang in there to live my life for the first time. I am especially grateful that I have fallen in love again and the feeling is mutual.
    If it were not for the Gluten Dude and all the amazing support from he, and all the folks on his site, I (many of us) would have been another statistic. I am grateful I still find the strength to endure the pain of CD and the other autoimmune diseases that followed. I am grateful for the pain as it has made me a more compassionate person. I am grateful there ARE people on this planet who really do have compassion. I am grateful that I actually feel grateful and that it is spilling out of me đź’“

    Thank you Gluten Dude for helping all of us out here in this oft frightening Gluten Land. You have helped SO many of us have hope when we thought there was none. Thank you Mrs. Dude for your support of Mr. Dude. Thank you to everyone who supported Mr. Dude in his journey to give so much to an undeserved community.

      1. The feelings are mutual and I hope some day I will have the honor of meeting you and yours. It sure would be fun to have a big gf party with as many followers as possible!

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Who I am. And who I'm not.

Who I am. And who I'm not.

I AM someone who's been gluten-free since 2007 due to a diagnosis of severe celiac disease. I'm someone who can steer you in the right direction when it comes to going gluten-free. And I'm someone who will always give you the naked truth about going gluten free.

I AM NOT someone who embraces this gluten-free craziness. I didn’t find freedom, a better life or any of that other crap when I got diagnosed. With all due respect to Hunter S. Thompson, I found fear and loathing of an unknown world. But if I can share my wisdom, tell my stories and make the transition easier on you, I’ve done my job.

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