On defying your DNA and taking power – Via bonjourclem

Happy Sunday!

Sponsored by Rogaine. #AD #ROGAINE

This month I partnered with #Rogaine to speak about how I “Defy My DNA”. #Rogaine is here to help as a proactive means for treating hereditary conditions like hair loss or thinning hair- of which are a reality that men and women will inevitably encounter with age, just like many pleasant and unpleasant things that come with age… In this post, I’m discussing elements of my own DNA that I have learned to defy as well showing you that you CAN defy your DNA just like your surroundings and end up being exactly who you want to be, regardless of all of that.

“Easy like a Sunday morning”. Nothing is really easy when you think about it. Decisions, choices, directions; everyday we are faced with them and choosing one also means renouncing to the other. It’s not easy to choose a path and keep to it.

It’s even harder when your DNA doesn’t work in your favor. I’d like to share my story in partnership with #Rogaine today so that I can help some of you that are struggling with choices and pre-set conditions.

I was born a healthy baby, I was right about 5KG and I was very hairy. Growing up, I was always above the average. Bigger, taller, stronger than all my peeps, extra freckles …  Starting elementary school, the other kids around started making me feel different and making fun of me. “Cow”, “Giant”, “Poopy face”, “Fat ass”… and more I won’t reveal here. They were using what I was, the essence of who I was, my DNA to make me feel inferior and weaker.

I did not understand why looking different was a reason for them to attack me. That went on until college, without a fail. As the years went on, I sometimes felt bad for myself, I kept on getting hurt by words and what they meant to me. That I wasn’t good enough, pretty enough, normal enough, that my own true self wasn’t enough, just because of what I looked like. I was often pissed with the World and as a teen, often wanted to be dead instead of having to live a life where I did not belong.

As I grew older, bolder and stronger, I realized that others and their thoughts about me do not define me. I realized that my DNA and what I look like does not define me. I took back my power and decided that the only voice and opinion I would ever consider when it comes to my body, is mine.

I took my power back by owning my body, my imperfections, my differences and blasting it into the World for everyone to see. I decided that my body would become my main strength and that I will use it to change the World. It wasn’t easy taking action and saying “I am a model” felt strange for the longest part, when I grew up being everything but a model, everything but “the standard”. It took a moment before I could even take myself seriously saying it.

But with time, comes white hair, experience and self love, I became what I wanted to be, a role model. Not only because I was finally deemed “beautiful” but because I did not have to change myself one bit to get there and because I could show everyone that beauty is more than your DNA, it shines through from the inside and that’s what makes someone so special. I made my career about being true to oneself, refusing to play by the rules society sets for us and always delivering the unexpected. I took a chance and defied my DNA and what society expected me to be to become my own type of role model, the one that inspire other by sharing their stories, like I did today.

There’s some things that we will all have to go through. Getting older, slower, larger, getting white hair, losing those hair… This does not define who we are and we can choose to accept it but we also can choose to fight it. Your choices are what define you, not your DNA.

 Sponsored by Rogaine. #AD #ROGAINE