I don’t notice any difference to be honest. I started telling friends after my wife that I had contracted it from, left me for another guy. I had the challenge of telling new girlfriends who were all fine about it.

Personally I feel that we are all guilty of self stigmatising to an extent. Admittedly I meet new people that I don’t tell as I don’t know their character but I never feel shame when I tell

Honestly, my friends and family got closer to me

Well , in my personal opinion , I haven’t said anything to my family. It’s just 2 of my best friends who knows about me . They keep talking to me like if nothing happens, so I’m not sure when I’m going to talk to my family about it , because they doesn’t know to much about hiv so it’s going to be hard for them to understand

Make some lifestyle changes and take your meds. To be honest, nothing else needs to change....maybe expand your circle of friends and remember that family is not only by blood ❣️

I came from a non Spiritual but loving family. When I came out to my father as bisexual there was no religious or any other judgment, only love.
In fact not coming from a religious background has, I think, contributed to my accepting myself and others accepting my HIV diagnosis.
One less mental hurdle to jump through.
I have a loving boyfriend who accepts me, friends and family who have too. Even a wife I have strained relationship as a caregiver who is OK with my HIV status ( I told her I was bisexual before dating because I was always honest about that before I dated anyone).
Not only does everyone know my status who’s close to me but I can openly talk about with them about my condition and we can make jokes about my situation.
Humor has been the biggest diffuser of tension about a bad situation for me. If you can laugh at the absurdity of your present situation and get others to join in with you it takes all the power away from it and puts it back in your hands.
I’ve also been the recipient of some good therapy both past and present that has put me in a good place mentally to accept this diagnosis. That’s been a big part of it too.
The combination of having non religious non judgmental background, loving parents, good caring friends, family and loved ones, a sense of humor and working with a good therapist has helped me get this far with what could have been a devastating diagnosis,
That’s my story.
Tom