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Hey Herp A Derpers!

The fear that comes after a positive herpes diagnosis is often centered around rejection, self-acceptance and love we have for others and ourselves. Then the question if someone will always love us again still arises and causes us to over think about herpes and our own means to have a love of our own.

So, when someone who comes along and accepts you for having herpes, we get off guard. We lift ourselves up knowing there is more hope in the word and less worries about herpes. I certainly did in the last few dates I went on since moving. They weren’t herpes positive, but it allowed me to be more at ease. Why is that? Because it made me think for the moment, I was worthy of their love and acceptance. That if they accept my herpes diagnosis, one of them can be the one for me. The stigma can lead us to believe that love is a fairytale and that only princes and princesses deserve the purest and un affected people; the worthy. We romanticize the fact that once we are accepted, we can be ourselves again. Relationships should stand more than just between they accept you for having herpes. Why? Because you deserve to stand more than for your herpes status too. Know that self-respect and other respecting you go hand in hand.

The stigma takes us to this state of mind that falls into the lines of depression and desperation of wanting to be more than herpes. That it’s a wall we cannot get around because no one will love us if we don’t like herpes. It teaches us that we are unworthy of physical or emotional affection.

Herpes may be bound within your body, but it shouldn’t be what binds your relationship.

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