About

About this blog

In 2011, after two years of illness, I was diagnosed as a gluten-intolerant, inactive celiac with a wheat allergy. We knew this meant change, but it wasn’t until we started on the journey of change that we realised the ongoing illness had been the easy part.

If you’ve ever suffered a life-changing illness, sought answers, or tried to change your life you’ll know how overwhelming it is. Thanks to the internet there’s an abundance of information at our fingertips to help with the journey. Unfortunately, it can also mean information overload or becoming misinformed.

I hope that this blog will help others who have begun similar journeys. ‘Finding My Star’ is a record of the journey my family and I have embarked on. Beginning with my original illness, I hope that by sharing our frustrations, triumphs and mistakes, we can help eliminate some of the bumps in your journey.

So much had to change and a lot of it had to change fast. As we learned new things and made changes, I soon discovered that it wasn't just our diet that was changing. My research led me to re-evaluate other areas of our lives and the world we live in.

This blog includes:

• Gluten-free recipes that have been taste-approved by my family
• A timeline of illness and discoveries
• The fruits and famine of growing our own organic veggies in a small backyard
• My own research and where it led me
• Links to webpages that I’ve found to be reliable and helpful
• The influence this journey has had on my thoughts about values, our bodies and society
• And, of course, the lighter side of life, which keeps us sane

I hope that by sharing the many aspects of our journey, anyone who’s ever suffered a life-changing illness, sought answers or tried to change their life for the better, will find some form of comfort, hope or help in this blog. Most of all, I hope that you find your star.

Why ‘Finding My Star’?

Finding the right name for a blog can take ages, especially when every great name seems to be already taken. It’s even more frustrating when you discover that the perfect name has been taken by a blog that is rarely updated, if at all.

My children have a night-light that projects hundreds of tiny stars onto their ceiling – it’s truly beautiful. Each night as I wait for Miss Flora to fall asleep, I stare at the stars and consider possible story ideas for writing children’s books.

One night I imagined a scene where a grandfather and his grandson were stargazing and the boy asked the grandfather where all the stars came from.

The grandfather said to the boy, ‘Everytime a child is born, his or her grandparent puts a star in the sky for them.’ Pointing at the night sky, he then said, ‘I put that star up there for you. Can you see it, straight up and a little to the left?’

Unable to determine which star his grandfather was pointing at and not wanting to disappoint him, the boy replied, ‘Yes, I can see it. It’s brighter and better than all the others.’

That scene made me wonder –What if there was a star in the sky for every person that ever lived? The further I travelled on my journey, the more I realised that everyone does have a star, but it’s not in the sky. It’s deep within us and often buried beneath a tonne of stress, anger, jealousy, misunderstanding and all that living in the twenty-first century brings.

The healthier I became and the more I learnt about myself and changing my life, the more content I became with my life. It felt like a star starting to shine from within me. Some days it’s not so bright, but I am at a point in my journey where it’s no longer buried beneath the darker side of life.

The more I learn and appreciate in life, the brighter my star shines.