2024 has been tough on my family. For all the hard we have walked through in my lifetime, this year has been kind of relentless and is definitely at the top of the “I’d like to return this for a full refund” list of years. I have been so fortunate, too, to have had resources, internal and external, to help me through. I have been moved by the kindness of the amazing people in my community.
Just recently, I learned my Great Grandmother got kicked out of Korea when my Great Grandfather was a Colonel in the Korean War. For what? For being an outspoken woman with strong opinions about the world around her. She wasn’t about to reel it in just to keep the status quo happy. And she’s not the only woman in my lineage to get kicked out of places (or beheaded) for being unruly. Unruly.
If you were taught Darwinian evolution then you may have internalized the belief that your makeup is mostly determined by genes over which you have no control. You may live according to the assumption that it takes generations to change gene expression and that, from a genetic perspective, you are stuck as you are. But discoveries in epigenetics prove otherwise! Not only can gene expression change more rapidly than we once believed, it can change within your lifetime! And your experiences, choices, and behaviors influence those changes!
