Positive vibes.

A little over a month ago, I seriously thought my life was over. I'm a young, attractive, intelligent female with everything going for her, and I get genital HSV1. To be honest, at the peak of college, I was having unprotected sex with multiple men, and never got ANY sort of STD. And I have unprotected sex with an older man, someone I knew and trusted, and I got herpes. But I wanted to share my recent experiences in disclosure. (I don't care to hear if you judge me for my sexual choices. I have no regrats. Not even one letter!) ;)

I've now told 3 men that I have herpes, and I have never once been turned down. *side note: I got to know the people before so I knew they weren't total uneducated pieces of shit*

The first I was WASTED and he was sweet and it was his birthday and he was super into me, and he brought me home, and despite my earlier plight of "I'm never having sex again," we started to fool around and I could tell where it was going. So I started to cry because I was like FUCKIN A here's this super nice guy, and I can't have sex. Well, I told him. And he looked at me and said something to the effect of "if it was at all possible, I think I like you more." He respected my honesty, and said it told him A lot about my character. He didn't mind at all. I was however sure to remind him I wasn't in a position to have a boyfriend, nor did I want one, so it doesn't make him a hero for sleeping with me. We're now just friends, but he was totally respectful.

Another guy recently has been coming in to see me at work (I'm a bartender) and he is gorgeous. And of course after some time, we get together, la de da, he tries having sex and for the first few times I was like "no, no, I'm not ready." (Because, honestly, it can be a blessing to have H because you get to be choosy. And what a better excuse then WELL I HAVE HERPES for making a guy fuck off and leave you alone.) but finally it got to the point where we couldn't not have sex anymore. So I told him I said look I have this skin infection down that doesn't go away, here are the statistics, etc etc. and he still wanted me. And said "I don't think any less of you and I still think you're the most wonderful, beautiful woman ive ever met" (yikes, definitely don't want to date you either) but again, he was super kind and very respectful.

I've even told my college sweetheart because we're still close and will probably marry someday. And he doesn't care either. "I don't think about it twice, I just love you and want you to be happy and healthy. That is all I care about."

I think the moral of the story here is this: despite what you may think, or how you feel, YOU ARE WORTH IT, YOU DESERVE TO LOVE AND BE LOVED. Having herpes changes your life yes, but it's not the end of the world. You are beautiful, and don't ever for a second question that, despite the fact that you have an STD.

Stay strong my friends. Be extraordinary.

Wow that's awesome!!! I'm story is very very similar.. I'm a bartender as well I told my sweetheart.. He didn't care either. Didn't workout but didn't have to do with H. Glad to hear a positive story!

Thanks so much for sharing! We can never get enough successful disclosure stories for newbies to read! Good for you for always being up front, even in casual encounters. Says a lot about your character!

You are hilarious, and i love your story

Yes, let's be extraordinary indeed. :) It's less about herpes itself and more about the connection. Thanks for sharing!

Just changed this to a Success Story.... so glad you came back to let us know how it's going, and that you are learning that H will, as you said, help you to be choosy and make better partner decisions :)

Well done chica!

((HUGS)))