SPFPP 244: H is for Hero

The Iron Man analogy really got me thinking about Tony Stark and how similar I am to this Marvel character. If you’ve watched Iron Man’s movies through Avengers Endgame, you’ll definitely appreciate this episode start to finish seeing the comparisons from the comic universe and my reality.

I talk about Honmychest and what that persona represents. “The H is for….” is a comment I regularly make. It’s for herpes, hype, hope, healing, and healthy …. but that’s what others have interpreted it as. What the “h” in Honmychest stands for to me is hero. I find many more similarities in my creation of the persona Honmychest than anything else. The last 10 years of navigating my herpes diagnosis, I was able to cope using Honmychest, who was the hero I needed in the Iron Man suit to get me here where I am.

Just as Tony found himself in a situation he couldn’t get himself out of, he created a suit to get him out, it worked, and he worked on making that suit better, depending on it, so did I. Honmychest was my suit of armor against stigma. I relied on it, became it, leaving my real identity out to dry. I have more practice being my online persona than I do being myself. I think now is the time to practice that presence with my identity. I made the suit, it didn’t make me. I look at my accomplishments and just how much confidence I put into being honmychest that I realize, I was capable of doing that this whole time, but didn’t have practice being me!