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How do you guys regain integrity?

A myHIVteam Member asked a question πŸ’­
Petersburg, VA

Did anything inside of addiction or your struggle make you compromise your integrity? How did you build up positive plans to regain a since of alignment with self integrity in that area? (I.e food eating, smoking cigarettes, using drugs, or moments of misery with self, higher power, or hiv)

July 26, 2024
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Answer Summary

Members opened up about how addiction and living with HIV led them to compromise their integrity in deeply personal ways, from hiding drug use... Read more

Members opened up about how addiction and living with HIV led them to compromise their integrity in deeply personal ways, from hiding drug use and going to prison for meth, to continuing risky sexual encounters after an HIV diagnosis. Several members shared that rebuilding integrity came gradually, through sobriety, making amends, accepting what cannot be changed, and experiencing painful losses that forced a moment of honest reckoning. A recurring theme was that time, clarity of mind, and choosing to move forward one day at a time were the most powerful tools for realigning with a stronger sense of self.

A myHIVteam Member

Did anything inside of addiction or your struggle make you compromise your integrity? @A myHIVteam Member
Something inside of my struggle with HIV that made me lose my self-integrity. Yes, I struggled and also denied the fact of being diagnosed in 1985 yet continued to occasionally enjoy random Bj's by whoever wanted to blow me, it didn't matter to me what the person looked like, it just how it was, easy and quick. I lost my integrity by not stopping the random encounters knowing I had HIV. I learned to regain my integrity by stopping the random sex that was mostly prompted by my closest gay friend Isaac, when he died from AIDS. When Isaac died and then his partner a few weeks later, the reality struck me. I was numbed by the fact somebody close to me and his buddy died from what I was carrying. It wasn't until 1995 when I started art treatment, and I became undetectable. I learned that I couldn't infect anyone and wanted that special feeling again. I disclosed and was rejected many times, but this allowed me to regain my self-integrity. After a short while I met my late partner Timmy who was HIV+ and he loved doing what I liked, and we were together for 15+ years.

July 27, 2024
A myHIVteam Member

β€οΈπŸ‘‹πŸ€—

July 26, 2024
A myHIVteam Member

With drug addiction their were no thoughts of consequences or reality - a false sense of eacape that compromised my integrity - the longer I stay away from drugs rebuilds my integrity

July 27, 2024 (edited)
A myHIVteam Member

Ok nola...

July 27, 2024
A myHIVteam Member

Hey I don't even look now.....my inner self only......needs chill

And of course.......idk......friends lol

July 26, 2024

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