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This post is sponsored by Nature’s Way® 1. Get ready every day.

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I am more than just skin. About 5 years ago, I battled with mental ill health. I found myself in a place of darkness. Depression.

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Imagine being so close to your dream; finally able to quit your job and start a sabbatical year around the world. Imagine waking up a few days before the dream come true and being diagnosed with HIV.

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I am not able to tell anyone much about years fourteen and fifteen of my life. Well, not in the way you’d assume.

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Growing up in the early 80s and 90s, I knew only the very basic, negative side of HIV and AIDS. I remember hearing the jokes in school, not just about HIV but also about being gay.

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Learning that you’re Poz can be a scary moment, but it isn’t a deathsentence.

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I’ll never forget my lowest moment living with eczema. When the palms of my hands became so angry and inflamed that people didn’t want to shake my hand because they thought I had something contagious.

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I never thought my eczema could ever become something that was traumatic.