SPFPP 369 Season 1 Finale: Letting Go of the Herpes and Other Things
This episode is the end of Season 1 and the start of something new—for the podcast and for me. Over the past 8 years, Something Positive for Positive People has focused on navigating the stigma of herpes. And while that focus helped thousands of people feel seen, supported, and not alone, I’ve reached a point in my own healing where I’m ready to expand the conversation.
This recording isn’t just a podcast finale—it’s a eulogy for a version of myself that got me here. It’s me, a man, talking through the grief of a breakup. That might sound unrelated to herpes, but it’s not. My ability to even process this relationship ending, and to let go of it with clarity and care, is a result of the healing I’ve done through my herpes diagnosis.
Herpes broke me down. It brought me face-to-face with shame, with rejection, and with all the ways I avoided being vulnerable. In learning to navigate that, I began to understand what it really means to show up fully—first for myself as I do for others.
In this episode, I talk about what led to the end of my most recent relationship. I unpack how unspoken needs, identity, and the fear of rejection shaped that dynamic—and how naming my truth as a polyamorous man brought both liberation and loss. I reflect on anger, therapy, creative energy, and how I’m reclaiming positivity—not in a fake-it-til-you-make-it way, but as a choice to live from my values instead of my fear.
Season 2 will continue to minimize stigma, but now, we’re widening the lens. It’s not just about herpes anymore. It’s about how stigma shows up in relationships, in grief, in mental health, and in how we talk about ourselves and one another.
Thank you for being here—for listening, for growing, and for being part of something positive. Season 1 will live on as a resource. I’ll meet you in Season 2.
I think I got the herpes part down. Now I want to grow through what comes after we get through the herpes.
This isn’t me stepping away from herpes work—it’s me stepping into something more.
I value freedom in order to feel safe. And I’ve been looking for that freedom externally when I needed to build it within myself.
There’s so much stigma out there. But there’s also something positive in all of us.
The name Something Positive for Positive People isn’t just about herpes anymore. It never really was.
I’m not stuck anymore. I’m grounded. I’m creating. And I’m ready for what’s next.
Season 2 is about positivity—through grief, through stigma, through the real ish we all deal with.
