A Girl Like Me

The human immunodeficiency virus is life altering, scary and confusing. And yet, I can't honestly say I hate it all the time.

Discovering my HIV diagnosis was an unexpected turn that reshaped my life's trajectory. Initially, it felt like the ground had shifted beneath me, leaving me disoriented and vulnerable. Questions, fears, and doubts flooded in, but within this chaos emerged a resolve to confront this new reality head-on. It was a pivotal moment that forced me to reassess my life, priorities, and most importantly, my relationship with myself. I realised that...

My name is Nitanita. I'm California-born and raised, 55 years old, Black, single, and have two adult kids and two grandkids. I'm a professional currently working in field of behavioral/mental health and recovery for over 25 years. I earned my bachelor's of science degree in human services in 2016, and I'm currently earning my master's in counseling of psychology, towards my license in marriage and family therapy. Continue reading...

Did you know getting dressed up is a form of self-care? I literally did not think of it as self-care until now. Self-care to me is anything that brings me pleasure. Getting dressed up, nails, hair and makeup done is what makes me feel my best. This has been a rough year financially for my family and if I dressed how I felt, y'all would need to put me in...

As I'm sure many of you know by now that I live with severe depression and anxiety along with ADHD, OCD, and PTSD (damn, that's a lot of alphabet, lol), I can get down pretty easily and sink into the thoughts and feelings in my head. I get overwhelmed easily and then I shut down. It has been extremely difficult to find ways that help me cope. I've self-medicated for...

Living with HIV, my biggest fear isn't the virus itself; it's the fear of losing control over my own narrative. It's the fear of being reduced to a stereotype, a statistic, or a societal misfit simply because of my HIV status. Unfortunately, HIV is strongly associated with sexuality, a link that I profoundly disagree with. This association often causes people to shut down, closing their ears to information that challenges...

Dear HIV activists, HIV advocates, everyone living a healthy, positive life, Do you remember a time when you thought life wasn't making sense at all, when you lied to people who cared about you and said that you were adhering well to treatment...? Not forgetting the time you kept saying why me? The time you felt scared, afraid to go to the clinic to get your medication and think someone...

Living with HIV is a unique journey, filled with challenges that often go beyond the medical aspects of the condition. As a transgender woman of color, or also any non-binary individual, the experience has been shaped by a complex interplay of factors that highlight the intersectionality of HIV and gender identity. One of the significant difficulties faced by non-binary and transgender individuals living with HIV is the societal stigma that...

Love has a curious way of defying our expectations and leading us down uncharted paths. My journey with Maximo is a testament to this unpredictability, a story of love, acceptance, and personal growth that challenged my beliefs and ultimately enriched my life. At the outset of our relationship, the six-year age gap between Maximo and me, he being 20 and me being 26, was a cause for hesitation. I firmly...

My lovely people, Have you ever had a dilemma where you had to choose between what is best for you as a person or for us a HIV community? Last week I had to make such a choice. While getting ready for the 19th European AIDS Clinicians Society (EACS) between 18-21 October in Warsaw, Poland, on the 13th of October my sister died in Gihanga, Burundi. So, I was torn...