2013 was certainly one of my most difficult on so many different levels; physically, emotionally, and mentally.  The year started off well enough but as I started to get back into running shape too quickly I injured myself and was sidelined with an achilles tendonitis injury that I ran the Cooper River Bridge Run through, though not in pr times.   By the time I recovered from the achilles injury I was well into a depression coping with the stoma prolapse and recurrent hernia that I just had fixed a couple of months earlier.  Given the run around by my surgeons I was feeling neglected, overwhelmed as a “workweek” single parent of a 4 year old, and feeling increasingly depressed by the situation.  I lacked the motivation to get into race shape and accompanied by my new love…single malt scotch fell further into depression.  I wasn’t using the proper coping skills for one, which was my running but I was headed toward yet another surgery.  Just before that surgery, while I should have been thrilled at the prospects of fixing what ailed me I was not and everything seemed to lose its importance as I sank into an even further depression just before the now scheduled surgery.   My marriage was on the rocks, my wife of 16 years and I were at each others throats, and I had lost nearly all will to continue.  From the abyss, somehow I recovered.  Not just through surgery but through therapy (and lots of it) and the love of my family.  I feel that I have grown from the past year.  I have recognized my weaknesses and faced one of the darkest periods in my life and survived.   I am running again and I love it.   I have rekindled my love of running and found a healthy coping mechanism and stress reliever.  Therapy is helping me in so many ways and I am not afraid to admit it.  I just wish more people would not feel as if therapy was a taboo and embrace their mental health the same way they do their physical health.   

My sincerest hope for all those out there that follow me via this blog, twitter, facebook, etc. or who I follow for that matter, find their inner peace in 2014.  I hope that everyone first and foremost is healthy both physically and emotionally.   My hope is that everyone finds the healthy coping mechanism or love to get through a difficult situation and that nothing but happiness comes in 2014.