There’s a moment in every human journey where the thing you think is the problem turns out to be nothing more than the doorway to the real work.
Herpes isn’t the villain in this story.
Shame is.

And shame only survives when it goes unexamined, unspoken, and unchallenged.

In this episode, I sit down with Adrienne (The Yoni Nutritionist) and Christopher Pickering, two people who’ve lived the diagnosis, dismantled the stigma, and rebuilt their identities on the other side of it.

But this isn’t a conversation about sexual health.

It’s a conversation about the human tendency to build entire identities from untested fears, and then mistake those fears for truth.

We explore why people cling to victimhood even when freedom is available, why disclosure becomes a litmus test for trust, why men and women metabolise shame so differently, and what happens when you stop organising your life around avoidance and start organising it around agency.

It’s a conversation about story; the one you inherited, the one you created, and the one you finally choose to let go of.

Timestamps

00:00 — Intro

02:14 — The problem is rarely the problem; the story is.
06:40 — Shame’s favourite hiding places.
12:58 — Adrienne on reclaiming her body after years of fear.
18:23 — Christopher on the “black-pill” mindset and learned hopelessness.
25:01 — Disclosure, trust, and the psychology of intimacy.
33:44 — Why humans choose familiar pain over unfamiliar freedom.
41:20 — Dating, polarity, and what shame does to desire.
52:55 — The moment life shifts when you stop negotiating with your worth.

Connect with Me:

Want to work with me? Click this link (https://rebeccaantonucci.com/breakthrough-call) to book a breakthrough call and join my signature method, The Breakthrough Blueprint, today.

Ready to join us at The Bridge Experience in Gold Coast this February? Sign up www.thebridgemethod.org and use the code SEXANDLOVE to save 20% off your enrolment

Connect with Adrienne The Yoni Nutritionist on IG: @yoninutritionist

Connect with Christopher Pickering on IG @pickeringfitness

Connect with me on socials by saying hi over on IG: @rebecca.antonucci (http://www.instagram.com/rebecca.antonucci)