The start of a new journey

I turn thirty in a few weeks, and I can safely say that life so far hasn't turned out the way I expected it to. As a language student, I figured I'd end up moving abroad to work and live, maybe as a teacher or a translator/interpreter.

What actually happened is that I fell in love shortly before graduating and after spending one year in Austria (which was already planned), I came back to the UK to settle. I don't regret it for one second -  next year I will be marrying that guy I fell in love with nearly eight years ago! For over four years I've been working as a systems analyst at a software company, which is definitely not what I thought I'd do. I work with loads of amazing people, but it's a very stressful atmosphere and I put a lot of pressure on myself. Add to that the fact that we bought a house almost a year ago and have more responsibility to deal with (though I do love that we're in our own place), and that we're planning a wedding... well, my brain is in overdrive.

After suffering from stomach aches and nausea for several months, I was recently diagnosed with probably IBS. I have some medication for bad times, however I'm trying to alleviate it naturally as much as possible - by changing my diet and relieving stress.

So far all I can say is that it seems it's going to be slow progress. I'm trying to cut out gluten and other FODMAP foods, but it's not easy and I'm not even sure that those foods are the problem. This is going to be a long ride...