You've got Great Genetics, don't be green with envy for anybody else's!

This blog post is not really about my green nails!  It's about genetics.

For the longest of time I truly, truly, believed that I was genetically predisposed to be "chubby", "fat", or at least NOT skinny.  Everybody in my entire family was skinny but me. (or it seemed that way, anyway).  I further justified my genetic destiny by rationalizing the fact that I had only 1/2 sisters, same mother, different father, so it MUST have been MY father's side that made me this way.  I believed this to be true until that magical year my life changed and I experienced a physical transformation completely unexpected....41 whole years!  In fact I don't believe I could have made it happen if I wanted to.  Of course I couldn't!  Because most of my life I thought I wanted to make it happen and it never did...it must be those damn genetics, right?

All of my adult life I worked as a professional manicurist, 27 years!  I never planned on this profession, it just kind of happened, kind of ironic because as a young girl / teenager I bit my fingernails down to the quick, and I always dreamed of having long beautiful feminine fingernails, like my sister Christy (the skinny one!) and all of my girlfriends (all skinny too of course).  But I didn't have beautiful nails like my sister because I had bad genetics!  Although I did break the habit of biting my nails when I was 14 years old, completely overnight, cold turkey, I still didn't have the long luxurious fingernails that were so in style of the day.  How does this have anything to do with weight loss?  I'm getting to it!

These days I literally have to file my nails down every 5-7 days!  They grow like weeds and since I prefer them really short, file away I do!  (kettlebell transfer swings and long nails do not like each other!)  Since I've retired from being a Manicurist I have plenty of time to take care of my own nails and, lucky me, I have the experience to do a really nice job of it!  What happened to my "bad fingernail genetics"?

Well, what happened to my fingernail health transformation was that I learned how to take care of them!  I learned what I had to do to have long, strong and healthy fingernails, (if I want to) despite what I thought my genetics predisposed me to.  At least that's what I believe to be true.  What else could explain it?

Do my fingernails have the same shape as my sisters?  No.  And I'm totally okay with that!  Do my thighs have the same shape as my sisters?  No.  And I'm totally okay with that.  What makes it all okay is that I am the best I can be, and that's pretty darn good!

Looking back at my history of being a fat kid (sorry, I mean "overweight" child) I can now remember that I was the kid sitting next to the chips and onion dip at every family get together.  I was the kid that volunteered to hand out school lunches in order to have access to the leftovers.  I was the kid that trekked carts full of glass bottles back to 7 - Eleven for the deposit, so I could spend ALL of the return money on Three Musketeers candy bars (at $.10 a piece, and that was a lot of candy!).  I was the kid that, for whatever reason, found some kind of comfort in eating more food than my body needed to be of a "normal" size.  It was not my genetics.

I now know without a doubt that this is the truth.

You have the best genetics!  Look at you!  Really, would you want to be someone else?  Be honest, other people bug you, right?  A little bit of care, maintenance and consistency go a long way!  Don't be envious of what you think other people have.  You have what you need and no one else can stop you from being your best.

Be your best.  It's never too late.  You can do it!