“I got diagnosed for genital HSV when I was 16, and for around 7 years I kept it as a dirty, shameful secret. I felt so uncomfortable with myself, tainted, like the whole world would know. I felt like it was a cruel joke that I would get something incurable from the first person I was sexually active with. I thought no one would ever want me. Last year I was finally honest about it with myself and those close to me. Before that I wasn’t even able to think about it, I would repress the thought immediately. Opening up about it helped me do a lot of emotional healing, but I know I still have a lot of shame around it; I currently have an outbreak and I was getting upset, a little bit because it hurt but mostly because I still felt like the whole world would know and deem me unworthy. I am in the process of truly knowing that it doesn’t change anything about who I am, nor does it change anything about how I experience all the magic in the world; agreeing with myself again and again: I am letting go of my shame.“