We’re All F*d Up

And That’s Okay!

[Also, What is Epigenetic Programming?]

We’re all fd up and that’s okay. We are all a product of nature and nurture: the combination of our genetic and epigenetic disposition, mixed with our upbringing and external world. Our bio-psycho-social atmosphere determines our personal reality, which becomes our personality.* We are all simply made up of the fucked up shit in and around us. Okay, right, but we don’t get a “pass” for all of that, just being a product, because we are not strictly mindless animals. We have free will, damnit!

So then why do we all act like we can’t help ourselves when we burst out in anger, stumble over our insecure thoughts, or obsess over our vanity without taking any action? Why do we act helpless to our genetics?

[[Genetics are given to us through our DNA. Our mother and father come together and give us this set that determines our physical features. Epigenetic DNA is the set of DNA we create from nurture- meaning if we stimulate that sensitive DNA, it will take a specific reaction. For example, I have a very long history of Jewish people on both the sides of my family, a history of high anxiety and gut issues. I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis at 24, meeting the top 3 bullet points of “people with this disease most likely meet this criteria:

Jewish Descent
Age 15-30
Family history of gut issues

So my genes were set up to react with this disease, if all of the right buttons are pushed. I can change the outcome by changing my epigenetic programming, the tail ends of the DNA strands that act as dimmer switches to the DNA. By exercising daily, eating consistently clean and healthy foods (unprocessed), living a low-stress lifestyle, keeping an anxiety-free mindset, and giving myself the self-love that I need each day, I can minimize the adverse effects of the disease. I can essentially “lower the dimmer switch” so the light of inflammation is not so bright.

Another easy example to wrap your head around epigenetic data is alcoholism. If a person has 2 parents who are alcoholics or exhibit addictive behavior, the child has a dimmer switch set to 5/10 instead of 0 because she was born with her parents’ epigenetic programming of addictive behavior, which they may have gotten from their gene line. So as the child decides to start binge drinking, her dimmer turns to 8/10 of “alcoholism” making her more likely to have trouble controlling her drinking behavior. Let’s say the opposite, she decides to never pick up a drink in her life because she sees how it ruined her parents’ marriage and bodies. She decides to pick up healthy habits such as exercising in the morning and painting in the evening to cope with daily life stress. She then lowers her dimmer switch to 1/10, reducing her chance of becoming an alcoholic.

We all have this power within us, to use our brain and habits to change our DNA. If you don’t believe me, listen to more than few doctors who have proved it! Dr. Rudy Tanzi:

Rudolph Tanzi is the Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Neurology at Harvard University, and Director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. Tanzi has been investigating the genetics of neurological disease since a student in the 1980s when he participated in the first study that used genetic markers to find a disease gene.

We’re all fucked up and that’s okay. Our genes came from our crazy parents, and we were born into obligated circumstances. Positive Takeway: We’re alive! And if you’re reading this, you too have a chance to grab your free will by the balls and use it for your pleasure. Stop causing yourself pain with your choices, haven’t you had enough? I sure have. I’m sick of making stupid choices daily, to set me back in all the goals I truly want to achieve: a life filled with love and peace, a delicious looking body, a calm mind, financial abundance, and friends who I can connect with on this deeper level. I’m done letting my old belief system and programmed way of thinking get in my way of being a shining beacon of light, love, and hope for a better life.

With Love,

Nixie