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Learning to tell your story, your way

My doctor called on October 27, 2005, with the results of my routine blood work, part of my annual checkup. "I have bad news on the HIV test," he said.

By then I had spent two decades writing stories of courage and sorrow in the HIV-AIDS epidemic as a health journalist in Washington, DC.

Now I had to decide how to tell my story. I had plenty of reasons to tell it as a series of traumatic experiences. But I chose instead to tell my story as a heroic journey toward finding, and claiming, my resilience.

I love to help others living with health challenges learn how to build their own resilience and not allow anyone, especially themselves, to reduce them to a diagnosis.

I've created this website to share what I have learned, and what others have to teach us, about resilience.

My book Stonewall Strong celebrates gay men's extraordinary resilience through stories of courage, humor, and survival offering wisdom for anyone who wants to be resilient.

My "Stonewall Strong" blog shares lessons on resilience from my own and other gay men's experiences.