Something Positive for Positive People

Are you burning out from carrying the weight of your herpes diagnosis in isolation? This week on Something Positive for Positive People, Courtney Brame explores the mechanics of burnout, energy management, and emotional capacity through a fascinating lens: the four laws of thermodynamics.Courtney breaks down how our environments and un-metabolized trauma dictate our energy levels, using powerful animal metaphors to illustrate how we can reclaim our power. Learn how to master your environment like the spider, transform your trauma into purpose like the dung beetle, maintain your grounded pace like the elephant, and harness explosive, friction-less energy like the lion. Courtney also explains the absolute necessity of leaning into a supportive community before you face rejection—because facing the chaos of entropy alone will always drain your battery.Plus, Courtney shares massive organizational updates, including the incredible growth of the SPFPP platform, a restructured weekly schedule to prevent burnout, details on Lauren Key's upcoming one-woman show "Deal Breaker," and the official announcement of the 2027 Herpes Stigma Conference for medical professionals.Links & Resources Mentioned:Get Tickets for the 2027 SPFPP Conference: spfpp.org/conferencesSubscribe to the SPFPP Newsletter: spfpp.org/herpes-newsletterTake the Herpes Stigma Survey: spfpp.org/herpes-surveyRequest a Support Call or Join a Group: spfpp.org

Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussions of childhood sexual abuse, incest, and suicide attempts. Please take care of yourself while listening.What does it take to survive the darkest of circumstances and still choose to live a life rooted in love and forgiveness? This week, Courtney Brame sits down with Reina, a board member of Herpes Cure Advocacy, for an incredibly raw, unedited, and deeply moving conversation about surviving compounding trauma.Contracting HSV at just five years old due to childhood sexual assault, Reina shares her journey through profound denial, the struggle to articulate her pain to medical professionals, and the eventual breaking point that led to a near-fatal suicide attempt. Reina opens up about how escaping a toxic environment, overcoming alcohol dependency, and finding her faith allowed her to finally stop running from her past. Now 26 years after her exposure, Reina explains why she chooses radical forgiveness, how she navigates dating and disclosure with unapologetic confidence, and why true healing begins with apologizing to your inner child.Links & Resources Mentioned:Connect with Herpes Cure Advocacy: herpescureadvocacy.comSubscribe to the SPFPP NewsletterRequest a Support Call or Join a Group

When you receive a herpes diagnosis, it is incredibly common to let that one virus overwrite your entire sense of self—disregarding every other amazing aspect of your being. At SPFPP, we define this phenomenon as a "fragmentation of identity."This week, Courtney Brame sits down with Sheikha Sakina to explore this fragmentation through a completely different lens: the metaphysics of identity. Anchoring their conversation in Erving Goffman's classic definition of stigma, Courtney and Sheikha simplify the mechanics of shame by looking at how all energy and matter comes into existence and maintains itself. Together, they discuss simple, physics-based applications to help you challenge your deeply ingrained beliefs and ultimately change your behaviors.Disclaimer: This episode is highly geared toward our long-time listeners who are ready for deep, introspective work. It leans heavily into the spiritual, self-help, "have-you-tried-yoga" realm of healing. But if you have the willingness to explore your identity at an energetic level, this conversation will offer a profoundly liberating perspective on stigma.Connect with Sheikha:https://alsakina.xyz/https://www.instagram.com/wearealsakinahttps://substack.com/@wearealsakinahttps://www.tiktok.com/@wearealsakina

Are you letting the pressure to say things "perfectly" stop you from experiencing the pleasure you deserve? This week on Something Positive for Positive People, Courtney Brame sits down with Lena Peak of Eros Insight, a queer-owned sexuality education resource.Tying into the core SPFPP theme that "Safe Sex is Communicative Sex," Courtney and Lena explore how perfectionism can paralyze us from both discovering and expressing what we truly want in the bedroom. They unpack the common disconnects found in heterosexual, monogamous relationships, examining how the default "social scripts" we are handed often fail to serve all parties involved.Drawing on valuable lessons from Queerness, Lena explains how we can expand beyond these limiting scripts to embrace authentic connection. They also discuss a powerful resource Lena created that centers self-inquiry and curiosity to help you pinpoint your exact desires and confidently bring them up to your partner(s).Tune in to learn the essential questions you need to ask yourself to dive deeper into your own pleasure, and remember: saying the thing is always better than trying to say it perfectly.Connect with Lena:Instagram - @erosinsightFor the workbook we talked about in the episode -https://erosinsight.com/store/holistic-sexual-wellnessAbout Lena:Lena Peak, MSW, CSE (she/they) is an AASECT-certified sexuality educator and founder of Eros Insight, where she explores sexuality, gender, identity, and relationships through a justice-centered lens. Her work empowers people and organizations to question inherited narratives and imagine more authentic, expansive ways of being.Lena designs supportive educational experiences that inspire meaningful community, intellectual risk-taking, and radical dreaming. Their work centers erotic knowledge as a source of personal and collective power, inviting people to recognize and reclaim their capacity for aliveness, connection, and pleasure.Lena holds a Master of Social Work degree with a concentration in Sexual Health & Education from Washington University in St. Louis.

Are you letting the fear of rejection keep you from experiencing genuine connection? Broadcasting from the Black Yoga Teachers Alliance Conference, Courtney Brame takes a moment to celebrate a massive milestone: the 9-year anniversary of the Something Positive for Positive People podcast!In this deeply reflective solo episode, Courtney tackles the intense anxiety surrounding herpes disclosures and dating initiation. We spend so much energy agonizing over the worst-case scenarios, but what if you flipped the script and asked yourself, "What's the best that can happen?" Courtney shares recent personal stories of pushing past his own fears of initiation to find profound connection, unexpected healing, and beautiful new friendships. He explains why our fear of disclosure is often a disguised fear of vulnerability, success, and true intimacy.Plus, Courtney shares major organizational updates, including details on the final Herpes Stigma Expo in NYC, setting firm energetic and financial boundaries for support calls, and why he needs YOU to be the next guest on the podcast. Stop rejecting yourself, let people surprise you, and let the best happen.Links & Resources Mentioned:Subscribe to the SPFPP Newsletter: spfpp.org/herpes-newsletterGet Tickets for the final NYC Expo (Aug 29): spfpp.org/expoRequest a Support Call or Join a Group: spfpp.org/herpes-support-call