Princess Diana once said. "HIV does not make people dangerous to know. You can shake their hands and give them a hug. Heaven knows they need it."
When people hear "HIV" they automatically think of AIDS, but they need to understand that they are two different things. People hear "HIV" and automatically think of dying quickly and never having a normal life again. Also, when I say "people" I speak of myself. Believe I thought the same way, I can’t lie. If I never would have gotten HIV, I wouldn’t know more about it like I do now.
When I got diagnosed I quickly thought: how long do i have to live? But I quickly learned that it isn't a life sentence and I'm not going to just up and die. I remember going to a support group and meeting wonderful individuals who'd lived with HIV for ten plus years or fifty plus years. And here I am crying and falling into depression because all I can think about is the little stuff I've heard about HIV and AIDS through movies and stuff like that. It's so much stuff you can do now to take care of yourself so you can live a long healthy fulfilling life. Yes it will be a journey but it's my journey and I won't complain because without HIV I was still on my life journey and now being HIV positive I believe it was just a blessing in disguise.
I love myself and I know there's plenty of people that love and have love for me. Plenty of people who think I'm brave for even living my truth. When I told my truth of living with HIV on Facebook, I remember a lady inboxing me telling me she hadn't been checked for five years and she went that day because of my story. It's stuff like that that I love; as long as I can get to one person, I feel what God is using me for. Yes, I'm a young black woman with HIV, but imagine how many people I can touch with my story, how many people I can educate with the new knowledge that I am learning about this virus.
