Ya'll! We have a local semi-celebrity on this one!!!! You gotta listen to find out who she is :P. (She doesn't think she's a celebrity. I think she is because she sings for money lol) This isn't your stigma. It belongs to the uneducated, uninformed, inexperienced individuals who don't have, don't know they have or in denail about the  potentially coming in contact with herpes. I was there until I got it along with many others. There's a transition period that begins with your diagnosis where what you KNEW about herpes is now what you believe about yourself, and then you begin to realize majority of those beliefs are untrue as you begin to have your own experience. This new found experience means understanding terminology, how your body responds to the virus, and beginning to educate and inform yourself and then realizing each person has their own experience.

I believe that through educating people as the opportunities present themselves is an important key to disassembling the stigma. We all fear judgment but the only way to free ourselves of it is to help free others by sharing our experience as the most educated group of people about herpes being that we have it. There's nothing to be ashamed of except the indifference we express by not speaking up against those who make those ignorant herpes jokes. I'm guilty of it and hope I never find myself in a position to not educate in that instance again.

Please continue to rate, subscribe to and review episodes of the podcast so that others are able to connect with the resources available to help them better understand the virus, their experience and connect with others for support.

I'm on Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr and Reddit @HOnMyChest.