Everybody has gone through something ...

[mr_hopp]

"Everybody has gone through something that has changed them in a way that they could never go back to the person they once were."

 

So, consider ... How has your personal healing journey with herpes changed YOU for the better?

 

http://bit.ly/1lbHLkj

[Sparklepony]

I would like to think it's changed me in more ways than one. I this I had this life altering coming for awhile, the herpes was just the final straw. Honestly, I'm thankful for it.

 

A few years ago I was a pretty judgmental person. I wouldn't consider myself a mean person, just a little ignorant and quick to judge. Through a nasty divorce, some financial woes, single mommying it up the last almost two years, and now a herpes diagnosis, I've realized we often don't chose the difficult paths we sometimes end up on. I'm a firm believer that most of us do what we think is best at the time and sometimes life decides to set us straight. All of it can either destroy us or teach us. There is a lot of power in choosing to look at the bad as a lesson.

 

I've realized I can't take my health for granted anymore. I can't drink soda in place of water. I can't sustain myself on food that comes from a package or a drive through. I can't go without sleep because I want to watch TV till three in the morning anymore. I can't spend all my free time worrying about things I can't change. I also can't run 5 miles a day while doing all of that.... how was that even a possibility for me before? I need to treat my body like the constant working machine it is. It needs to be fueled right, given the rest it needs, and the emotion break it deserves. I think herpes is a warning to myself from my body. I could be so, so much worse. I'm lucky it's "just herpes".

 

Above everything though, I've learned that we are all at risk for herpes, as well as any other STD or STI. It's a very eye opening process. It's scary. It makes us all vulnerable. It's also preventable. No one "has" to have this given to them. Sex comes with responsibility, and I never looked at it like that up until a few weeks ago. We have a responsibility to our partners and to ourselves to get tested, educated, and go through the uncomfortable conversations about statuses. I no longer feel odd about the thought of asking someone about the status, asking if they have gotten tested between partners, or even asking to see results. I also don't feel weird about the thought of someone asking me those things either. I'm not ready to openly talk about this with just anyone, but I'm positive that if the situation arises that I need to disclose to a potential partner that I could do it without feeling guilty or ashamed. That's a start, right?