Living with Herpes

Now that we’ve received the diagnosis we’re living with herpes. There are probably so many questions running through your head and not to mention they are scary.

Some of them might be:
Will I ever date?
Will this outbreak ever go away?
Will I get another one?
What if I get rejected when I disclose?
Will anyone ever love me with herpes?
How do I disclose?
Can I get married?
What will cause outbreaks?
Is there a herpes cure?
Will I be able to have kids?
Who did I get herpes from?
And so many more questions…

I know that when I was diagnosed back in 2011 I totally thought my life was over. I didn’t think that I could live with herpes. I thought that all of my aspirations, goals, dreams and accomplishments had gone out the window. I remember thinking to myself, why did I even work hard to graduate from college. Why was I working so hard to build my career? Why should I even care about who I date, I’m sure I have to settle. Feel free to let me know what you’re self doubts were too.

What was interesting about it was that these were all self made beliefs that were put into place by the stigma and our own limitations. Once I started unravelling the layers of conditioning and doing the work I realized that my life was just the same. In fact, I realized that herpes really had nothing to do with my problems.

At the time I was struggling with my weight, binge eating and not eating healthy. I was out late with friends and not taking care of myself. I kept dating the same guys who were not emotionally there for me. I was in debt, because of an ex boyfriend and was working on getting out of that. And my list can go on and on. All of these had nothing to do with herpes yet I made them about herpes.

I had to step by step, day by day, little by little to make the changes to redesign my life with herpes. What I found was living with herpes was just the same as living without herpes. I had the opportunity to redesign my life and make it how I wanted to make it. When I looked at what I thought was holding me back, meaning herpes, these beliefs were already there and it was benign diagnosed with herpes that allowed me to recognize them and move through them.

The best thing I can suggest to you to live your life with herpes is realize that you are not alone. I thought I was on an island. The truth was, that I was so not alone I just had to find support. This is why I created the Life With Herpes platform and the Secret Society. We have a community of hundreds of people from all-over the world who share the same feelings, stories and experiences. Come join us and see what we’re all about.

Join our Secret Society

See the episode on Youtube