Two years ago on this day, I began treatment for Lyme disease, Bartonella & Babesia. They've been two of the hardest years of my life. I cried so many tears, I had days of debilitating depression and anxiety, I experienced loss of emotions (I felt very flat, emotionally speaking) and the pain...so much pain. Taking 30+ pills a day and spending hundreds every month in the hopes of getting rid of the more than 40 symptoms I was dealing with. I lost friends, I stayed home like a recluse, I wondered a million times if I was going crazy. And yet when I look back, I see a time of tremendous personal growth. I look at who I am now and know without a doubt I wouldn't be here if it weren't for getting sick. They say pain is a gift, and I tend to agree. No one escapes pain, it's part of life. But it's in our pain and dark times that we discover our inner strength, and who really are. These things aren't learned by life being easy. Seeing how far I've come s