Mar 14, 2023 | Podcast, Your Business

A Conversation with Coping with Herpes Expert, Drew Rabidoux

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About the episode:

Drew Rabidoux, therapist, therapist coach, Coping with Herpes expert, course creator, mom, and boyband fanatic is on the podcast today. In our conversation she’s sharing about her recent course, Women Coping with Herpes. However, you can take out the word “herpes” and replace it with whatever you might be struggling with right now and so much of Drew’s wisdom will apply. Something that I am really struck by after recording this episode is that oftentimes when we are on our path, we don’t understand why we hit certain bumps along the way. But hindsight is always 20/20 and looking back we have the clarity that each step along the way has been in service of who we are meant to become and what we are meant to have. I’ve never talked about something so heavy and significant while also laughing so hard. Drew left me feeling deeply inspired and I hope she can do the same for you.

 

Topics discussed:

  • Drew’s history of working with people in the AIDS population and how that has grown into working with individuals coping with Herpes 
  • What Drew believes sets her apart from other therapists and why this has helped her attract patients from all over the country 
  • The different types of Herpes, how presents itself and bringing attention to  the lack of accurate testing
  • A deep dive inside Drew’s course for women coping with Herpes and how the lessons taught within can relate to empaths 
  • Why you have to face and overcome your shame before you can make any lasting change in your life

 

About Drew Rabidoux:

Drew is a therapist, therapist coach, Coping with Herpes expert, course creator, mom, and boyband fanatic. The twists and turns of life have weathered her to be one hell of a therapist and her client’s biggest fan. She keeps a small and intimate private practice where she mostly works with women struggling with relationship trauma, coping with Herpes, and learning to roll with life in a way that allows and honors their biggest hopes, fears and everything in between. Drew is also a fierce advocate for other therapists to not have to sacrifice good living and financial stability at the expense of also honoring their commitment to helping others.

 

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Click here for a raw, unedited transcript of this episode

 

Catherine A. Wood  15:20

Drew, I’m so excited to have you on the podcast today.

 

Drew Rabidoux  15:23

Yeah, thanks for having me.

 

Catherine A. Wood  15:28

Before we started recording, we were just chatting about how half of your career you have spent and learning and working in preparing yourself for what you’re doing now, and preparing yourself for this course that you just launched for women coping with herpes. So I’d love to start off our episode today by you, sharing with us with us your story and how you got to be here.

 

Drew Rabidoux  15:56

Sure. So my mother would tell you that I basically have been a social worker, since I was very little. She used to not be able to allow me to watch Sesame Street because of Guy Smiley. Remember that guy who like sticks, numbers on people’s backs, and they don’t know about them. And everyone’s laughing, because they have no idea they have this number on their back, my mom had to shut it off when it came on, because I would get so sad for the person that, you know, was having this trick played on them. So as I grew older, I was always gravitating towards helping profession. And I actually started when I was 19, working with homeless and runaway youth and also doing street work for teens who needed education about HIV and AIDS. So that’s where this all started. Um, I developed in my career in other ways I’ve worked in AIDS Care Center, which is working with clients who have HIV AIDS. I was sent in the Peace Corps to do youth education for people about STD and AIDS. And I ended up doing a lot of work individually with people who are so sick that with AIDS, that they couldn’t get medication, because the public clinics wouldn’t give them medication. And how that started was my host sister. Actually, I didn’t know anything about her, it was very beginning of my service, she got sick, um, the family was very quiet about it. And finally, they came to me because she was on death’s door, and said, Do you know anything we can do to help her get better. And so I was able to connect her with our doctor, an American doctor in the Dominican Republic, who would help people with medications, and she’s still alive to this day, which is wonderful. But when people saw what I did, you know, with her, um, I started having people come up to me in the community saying, oh, you know, I understood that you could maybe help me get vitamins for my mother in law. And at first it didn’t click and then it clicked, oh, this woman must have AIDS because it’s a very taboo thing in the Dominican Republic. People don’t want folks to know that they have AIDS, anyone who’s ever had sexual relations with them is ostracized. They’ll say that it’s diabetes, or whatever it is. And so that really solidified my commitment to working with people because it was so hush hush. It was very stigmatizing. And I, you know, wanted to give support where support is needed. As you know, there’s now medications for HIV and AIDS. So that’s pretty much a very, you know, chronic illness at this point. The attention that has not been paid is to folks with herpes. So herpes is a virus which also carries similar stigma. So I was working with clients, and they would come to me saying, you know, I have herpes, I’m never going to meet someone. Nobody’s ever going to love me. Nobody’s ever going to want to have a relationship with me because I have herpes. I You know, how do I tell people I have herpes. And so apparently, I’m one of the only therapists in the country that special. It’s in herpes and other STDs because I get emails from people everywhere, who need support. And so I can’t become everyone’s therapist because I only have a license in New York and Texas. And so I created this online course, that people can do on their own, it has a community aspect, if that’s what people would like to engage with people who are also struggling as well. And it’s really just my labor of love for the people that I can’t be a therapist to all over the world.

 

Catherine A. Wood  20:47

It is wild that I’ve known you for almost a decade, and I never heard Your Peace Corps story, or what you did it or how you served, what an incredibly inspiring story.

 

Drew Rabidoux  21:00

It really was. And, you know, when I go back, many of the people that I worked with are still alive. And, um, it wasn’t what I was sent to do. But it definitely was something that was so important, because there are people who are still alive. That may not have been, which was also hard to, to handle, too. Because when I was doing this project, and I was connecting people, I was thinking, Well, what’s going to happen when I leave? Is this sustainable. Um, and also, to be honest with you, I had to do a lot of advocacy, even with the people I did work with, with this doctor, because she would assume that they were prostitutes, she would assume that they, you know, had been having sex with many people, instead of just a person who hadn’t bad, you know, lock to sleep with the wrong person, and be infected. You know, and I think that that’s the part that people don’t get is like, nobody goes out looking and wanting to get an STD. It’s something that happens. It’s something that sometimes happens without that person’s knowledge. Sometimes, somebody told them that they have this, and you may get it. But it’s still such a hard thing. And the only contact that people have is the doctor who only has 15 minutes to diagnose, and tell them they have this devastating diagnosis and send them out the door with no support. No, you know, help with the parts that come after, which is the emotional side of herpes. And that’s what I do.

 

Catherine A. Wood  23:00

I mean, it’s so cool. Seeing and hearing you talk about this at the same time, because it’s just so evident how passionate you are about this topic. And what an advocate you are for your clients. Mm hmm. And I think that’s pretty amazing that you’re one of the most sought after therapists for people coping with herpes. I mean, I have my own opinions. But I’m curious. What makes you think people choose you like, what do you think sets you apart that has people willing to bring something that is so deeply? Shame inducing for some heavy, significant meaning mate, meaning making for so many, like, what has them? What do you think has them feel safe sharing with you?

 

Drew Rabidoux  23:52

I think because I specialize in it helps a lot, because there’s not a lot of people that specialize but also, I believe that this is something that people should have support around. It is isolating, and it is a breakdown that could lead to a breakthrough, right? Credit to you for that realization about. So having getting in having herpes is horrible. It is life changing. It is a life stopper for a minute, right? Well, can I pause you there? Yes.

 

Catherine A. Wood  24:34

I don’t know a lot. I don’t know a lot about herpes. But my understanding is that there’s different strands and it can affect people in different ways. Yes, that’s true. I know this isn’t your area of expertise. But for those of us who are perhaps wanting to learn more, like can you share a perhaps about some of the ways in which it does

 

Drew Rabidoux  24:56

affect? Absolutely. So herpes simplex. herpes simplex virus has two types there. So I’ll refer to it as HSV. One and HSV. Two, there is not great testing for this. So the way that people are being diagnosed most of the time is because of sores. So here’s where it kind of gets, you know, important to understand. You can transmit herpes, casually through kissing, if you have cold sores in your mouth, which has traditionally been known as HSV, one oral herpes, and HSV. Two is the vaginal herpes or genital herpes otherwise known as for both men and women. However, you can transmit HSV, one to genitals, and you can transmit HSV, two to mouth. So even though there’s been this distinction for a long time, it, it doesn’t matter. It’s if you kiss somebody who has a cold sore or one developing, which is the other challenging part of this is that people pass it on. And they don’t even realize because a lot of people don’t know this information. So if somebody doesn’t know that a cold sores developing on their mouth, they have oral sex with someone else, they’re susceptible to having herpes in the genitalia. So that’s why this is so complicated, because there’s no good testing. People don’t know, there’s one place that does the testing that’s accurate. The rest of the testing that’s done is a lot of false positives, or false negatives as well. So it’s hard to be diagnosed. That’s a challenge. And then it’s hard to get any confirmation that that’s what you have and which strain. Wow, yeah.

 

Catherine A. Wood  27:03

That’s crazy. I mean, I’m just thinking like, anyone with a cold sore on their mouth, that’s HSV. One.

 

Drew Rabidoux  27:11

Yes. Well, it could be HSV. Two, right, you could get HSV, one HSV. Two on the mouth, you could get HSV, one HSV, two on the genitalia. So it’s, it’s open for whichever one, you know, that that person had, and where the contact was with a mucous membrane. So it typically appears for women, very painful. I mean, it’s it’s open source, you can imagine urine going over the open sores is extremely painful. So typically, when people get to the doctor, it’s like everywhere in their genitalia, and it’s very painful. So that’s usually the way the first outbreak is, but not all the time, which is why so many people don’t even know they have it, and go unnoticed for a long time.

 

Catherine A. Wood  28:13

I mean, I appreciate your kind of wealth of knowledge and helping people to understand, you know, whether or not they have it. And I’m mindful that your course is about coping for those who do have it. So yeah, share with us what, what does that look like?

 

Drew Rabidoux  28:32

So the course has four modules. So it’s in total over three hours of video content, and also 10, worksheets to go with all of the material in the course. So the first module is a lot about what we just discussed. What is herpes? How do you get it? How do you live with it, all of that kind of stuff? Module Two, is, you know, how do I cope with having it? How do I empower myself to be able to live with this? So it’s more sort of building? Module Three? Is more.

 

Catherine A. Wood  29:14

Can we stop there for a moment? How that how does what does that look like? How do you empower? How does someone gain a sense of self empowerment about this around this? What that what does that work like?

 

Drew Rabidoux  29:29

And that’s why people pick me to be their therapist, right? It is the moment where you start revisiting everything. So as you know, in life, there are many moments that happen that have you revisit. Disclosing herpes to someone is extremely vulnerable, vulnerable. They could walk away, they could say, I want to be with you. Thank you for telling me. Let’s figure this out. together. And it can also really weed out a lot of people who are not in it for the long haul, right? So that’s where the important piece comes in getting empowered. How do you tell people? Does it feel right for you to tell people? And that’s where the empowerment comes to build this sense of worth backup, because herpes is a big, difficult thing for people to sort of feel like they still have their self worth intact, if that makes sense. You know, because it’s, it’s many times a time that people start to ruminate on Ottawa, uh, you know, I shouldn’t have slept with that person, or why didn’t I know? Or, you know, was it worth it to have sex with that person that I don’t even care about. Now I have HSV. Or people get it and think that they got it because their partner cheated on them. It’s really, the diagnosis itself brings up so many additional things, that that’s really where you have to do the work and rebuilding. And that’s what happens in my course.

 

Catherine A. Wood  31:13

I mean, I I love that idea. Because there are always things for us to disclose in relationships. You know, like, I feel like we’re living in the generation of addiction, whether it’s to dopamine and social media or to our work or to alcohol, like it feels like we’re in a very much a kind of a generation of compulsivity. And so having to do that inner work, in order to disclose your kind of unique flavor that there is for you to share and to self reveal around occurs as incredibly natural and organic, like, at some point, everyone has to disclose their stuff to their partners. Yeah. But it’s an incredible and incredibly empowering to use your words invitation, and an a practice in learning how to be more communicative and transparent and upfront, which is, I don’t know about you, but very refreshing.

 

Drew Rabidoux  32:19

Definitely, I always talk to clients about when you get into a relationship, there are some bags you check, and some bags you carry on. The herpes one is the one that has to be carried on, right, because if your values are aligned with being honest and open, then you might really want to tell your partner before you start to have sex, right, or getting engaged in activity where it could be transmitted. And that’s really one of those things, that’s hard to say. And it also could lead to that person walking away. And that’s really hard stuff. And people really need support around that. And that’s where the sweet spot for me is.

 

Catherine A. Wood  33:09

Yeah. I mean, I could just feel the empathy using ODBC say that?

 

Drew Rabidoux  33:14

Yeah, it’s a hard thing.

 

Catherine A. Wood  33:18

Let’s go well, so what’s the third model module?

 

Drew Rabidoux  33:20

So the third module is more about imagining relationships. What do you want in a relationship? Because the idea is, okay, you’re gonna have to disclose so let’s pick a really good partner, somebody that’s going to be worth embarking on that disclosure, then acceptance with right. So what are some things that have happened in the past? That maybe you don’t want to repeat? What kind of people have you attracted in the past? That maybe you don’t want to attract again, right? I think herpes leads to much better decision making in relationships, I really do. 100%. So it’s a call to action for people, right? How do you empower yourself to feel like you want to go out there again, and sometimes rejection is protection. So sometimes, if that person is willing to stay in the relationship with you after disclosure, Bye, Felicia, that’s it. You know,

 

Catherine A. Wood  34:27

I love this Drew, this is gold.

 

Drew Rabidoux  34:31

Well, it’s important, right? Because Have you ever had a moment in your life that’s been difficult that you didn’t learn something from?

 

Catherine A. Wood  34:41

I mean, it’s hard to imagine. Right? I think I’d probably still be there if I didn’t learn the lesson.

 

Drew Rabidoux  34:50

Exactly. And herpes is a very hard lesson. And it’s also an invitation to think differently about The way you’re approaching relationships, to feel differently about how to disclose when to disclose, and to build that bridge so strong so that if somebody declines, it says, You know what, I don’t want to be in a relationship with you because of the herpes, that you aren’t going to crumble. Right? That’s what we’re trying to do. That’s what I’m trying to help people with.

 

Catherine A. Wood  35:26

I’m, I know that we’re talking about herpes now, but I’m appreciating that we could remove herpes and replace that with any personal challenge with any medical condition with any emotional condition, right? Like we can either be empowered or disempowered. Yeah, it’s really the two

 

Drew Rabidoux  35:51

choices, right?

 

Catherine A. Wood  35:55

Um, so I mean, I’m, you know, our podcast, we were all empaths. Here, like I have it that most of the people who tune in are empaths. And there’s some aspect of impasse that has us be so generous in relationships, that oftentimes we, you know, we give more than we receive. And not surprisingly, relationships are a huge topic in coaching, romantic, platonic, business, family, friends, like all of the above. So I’m appreciating how relevant this topic is for my audience. And I am just wanting to hear more about what it looks like, what this third module around self empowerment and getting really clear about that bridge, like, what are the steps? What are the planks that you help your students lay?

 

Drew Rabidoux  37:00

I think the first one is learning to deal with the shame. Because a herpes diagnosis or any kind of, you know, quote, unquote, mistake or problem that happens, our first instinct is to shame ourselves, right? Especially empaths, because it’s easier to do it to ourselves than somebody else. However, that’s also a we’re meaner to ourselves than probably anyone else. So that’s the first thing is you have to deal with the shame that you have around the diagnosis or what went right. If we’re talking about somebody without herpes, it would be what led them to where they got right and having some compassion for themselves. About, you can only do the best you can with what you now. Right? So that’s really the foundation to then imagining what kind of relationship do I want? What’s important to me. Also seeing your blind spots, you know, if your parents or whatever parental figures you had in your life, have this dysfunctional dynamic, it is very unlikely that you’re not going to go try to create the same one if you haven’t done the work, right. So my course is doing the work to make sure that when you’re going to disclose it’s to somebody who you believe with what you know, fits this criteria. Maybe we’ll, you know, not be so hard on Well, I want somebody who’s five, seven instead of five, three, right? Like those things you can get over. But if somebody is an asshole, they’re an asshole, and you shouldn’t date them. Right?

 

Catherine A. Wood  38:57

Yes, I mean, it’s really no surprise to me why so many people would want to bring to bring their healing to you true, because you just have such a refreshing like, no bullshit perspective about it.

 

Drew Rabidoux  39:17

The only crave from too much sugar is a toothache, right? So I am not playing on the sugar coating. Because also, you know, I love my colleagues, my colleagues are wonderful. And you know, there are some that don’t want to hurt their clients feelings, right? I also don’t want to hurt my client’s feelings. And I don’t want them to marry the same asshole that they’ve dated five times already, who was no good for them. So I may gently, you know, steer them to well, you know, I’m noticing that this person sounds similar to was the last guy? What do you think about that? Do you see any similarities? If they say it themselves, that’s it, they can’t unsee it, they cannot unsee it. And so that’s what I do a lot with clients is awareness around things. Once you see notice and feel it, you can do something different. But if you don’t know what you’re doing, you can’t do anything to change it really.

 

Catherine A. Wood  40:26

I mean, I, I totally agree. And I love that you start with doing the work around shame, because in my experience, what we are ashamed by, we stuff, or we compartmentalize or we disconnect from or disassociate from, so there is literally no space to forgive, and to do the self acceptance work. Because we literally don’t engage with all of that. All of that built up emotion. And, you know, through from my vantage point from the coaching, the coaching perspective, and I think it’s the same like what we except we can’t create a distinct experience from, like, what we resist what we stuff we recreate.

 

Drew Rabidoux  41:23

Yeah, well, it’s like, what happens, I always use this analogy with my clients. If you’re stuffing something in a garbage can, you’re stuffing and stuffing and stuffing, what’s going to happen to the garbage can, it’s gonna break, and it’s gonna go all over and you’re gonna have beans all over the floor, and the whole thing, the whole mess, that becomes a bigger mess to clean up than if you had just, I think we are so afraid of feelings. But at the end of the day, we’ve all had them. And we’re still here to tell the story. For sure. It’s so much worse if you don’t just allow yourself to feel the feelings. And you won’t feel that way forever. Right. But you will if you stuffed it in that garbage and it’s gonna come back to haunt.

 

Catherine A. Wood  42:13

Oh, my gosh, so good. You know, one of my favorite. One of my favorite quotes around this is when we feel we heal. I think I first heard that saying by gabber mot de

 

Drew Rabidoux  42:27

Yes, the body says no, when the body says no, right. That’s a great book.

 

Catherine A. Wood  42:35

Okay, I haven’t read that book. I won’t have it. No, I watched his documentary.

 

Drew Rabidoux  42:39

Oh, yeah, there’s been, it’s so wonderful. There’s all this research and information about how if you don’t deal with your feelings and your problems, they manifest in your body in another way. And I know you’ve read the Body Keeps the Score, and that’s really the Bible for that, right. But it really does. I mean, if you don’t want to deal with it, you’re gonna have to, you know, your your body is going to make you have to deal with it. And that’s happened to me. You know, if, if I don’t deal with something, it will come out in another way it all the time. Yeah.

 

Catherine A. Wood  43:22

I mean, I can appreciate that that’s been a huge part of my journey is learning how to express my feelings so that I don’t like live from them. Right. Like when we, when we allow ourselves to feel them, we can get back to our commitments, and to what we said and to, you know, our personal power, but if we don’t allow ourselves to feel our feelings, like they present themselves in less than stellar ways.

 

Drew Rabidoux  43:56

Or rakers?

 

Catherine A. Wood  43:58

I mean, some of my clients like they’ll just bring out their feelings we’ll on coaching calls, many actually, because we’re so practiced in being controlled by our goals and being kind of just head down, you know, moving forward, that we don’t, we don’t really stop to understand, you know, why we’re experiencing burnout or why we’re feeling so resentful in our relationships in our primary relationships or why, you know, why we’re just constantly feeling like we’re we’re giving at the expense of ourselves. And I think it’s has a lot to do with this very conversation that we don’t actually allow ourselves to slow down and name what we’re feeling so that we can get get those needs met or meet them for ourselves.

 

Drew Rabidoux  44:50

Right. I don’t think a lot of times we know it’s happening either. I always, you know, I talked to my clients about when do you feel a rush of having to make something go away. You have to make something and make something go away, or you’re having a bigger reaction than whatever happened warranted, right? That’s, there’s something behind that. And that’s what needs to be explored. Because I think we’re not, you know, I think now kids are more in tune with feelings. But I think, you know, the older generations like myself, we didn’t look at that poster with feet, you know, the poster, the where all the different faces different feelings are. We didn’t, I don’t ever remember being shown that, you know, but we have to, because people need the language.

 

Catherine A. Wood  45:48

I mean, hearing you say that is reminding me of I think it was like a tick tock video, I wonder if you saw this, it was like, a first, a first grade classroom. And the teacher would stand outside with the sign that said, and the sign had like six options for how the children wanted to be greeted upon entering her classroom. And it said, a hug, a dance move, a high five, a fist pump, or a bow. And then the child got to like, slap what they wanted, how they wanted to be greeted by their teacher. Can you imagine like, what a beautiful practice at six and connecting, you know, what do I need? How, what what would feel good? On my nervous system? How do I want to be greeted? Like? Can you imagine being growing up with that level of personal agency?

 

Drew Rabidoux  46:44

Yeah. At six, you don’t get to make a lot of decisions, you know, so any decisions you can make are important to offer? Because they’re so out of control, you know, like they don’t have control of most of their life.

 

Catherine A. Wood  47:03

Wow, this is so inspiring. Okay, so let’s go to the fourth module, what is the fourth module?

 

Drew Rabidoux  47:09

So the fourth module is bossing up. How are you going to be in charge of your life? How are you going to be the creator of the way you want to live? How are you going to move forward? It’s really just about moving forward. Yeah, herpes, I have herpes, but it’s not going to be everything about me. Like there’s so many other things that I’m going to take control of what I can control. And I’m going to respond to what I need when I need it instead of you know, there’s a whole there’s a whole video in there. I know damsel in distress, it’s called. And it’s about like, stop looking for somebody to save you, like, save yourself. That’s it, you know? And so it’s all about, you know, really empowering ourselves to move forward even with this challenge of having herpes.

 

Catherine A. Wood  48:11

So, I know that your clients, they don’t get a lot of the like, juicy, fun details about your personal life.

 

Drew Rabidoux  48:21

They not so much. No.

 

Catherine A. Wood  48:23

And there’s one juicy, fun detail that I would love to bring to light here because I feel like it is so much a part of who you are and what you bring into your work, even if you don’t share the content of this particular passion. Can we just talk for a moment how you’re a boyband aficionado?

 

Drew Rabidoux  48:47

Yes. Oh my God, even when I was in the Dominican Republic in the Peace Corps, I was obsessed with Ivan Dora. You know, the Dominican Republican. And oh my god, what? The bonzers? Yes, yes. I am. Diagnosed doubly obsessed with New Kids on the Block. I love them. I have met them many times. I have pictures with them. I if I didn’t have children, I would literally live out of out of a car and follow them on tour. It is it is so much like every time I go it’s connecting with a 13 year old me. And that’s magic that my 13 year old Drew is is is is a gift. So whenever I get to connect with her, which is through boat boy bands, I do it because it’s like, I’m not tired. Nothing hurts. I can do You know, I literally I go to bed at nine o’clock at night and my normal life on that I go on a cruise with New Kids on the Block, I don’t sleep. It is a six 7am. And I’m out with my other friends who love them. And we’re having pizza after a night out, you know, dancing with them. So it is my fountain of youth. It’s my passion. It’s my love. And they make me so happy.

 

Catherine A. Wood  50:34

How does your 11 year old boy band obsess part? Like what? What would she have to say to your clients?

 

Drew Rabidoux  50:45

Let’s do this. We’re doing this, we don’t need mom to take us to the concert, we’re going to take ourselves, we’re not going to be passive to life, we’re going to suck the bone marrow out of it. Right? That’s what it would be.

 

Catherine A. Wood  51:04

I mean, I know I’m laughing and like, you know, teasing you about these questions. But honestly, I feel like this part of you, this passion and zest for living this part of you that’s committed to sucking the marrow out of life. It infuses itself into your work, it is so much a part of what you stand for, and who you are for your clients like you are just the embodiment of, of joyful living.

 

Drew Rabidoux  51:34

Thank you, I do have a lot of fun. And like, you know, I think once I can assure them and help them through the part of feeling like things are going to be bad forever. And seeing that it’s kinda like, you live in the ocean, and some days the weather is going to be bad, and the waves are going to be huge. And you know what tools to take out to weather it until the next day, you know, or when the weather moves, it’s the same thing, you know, you can either be digging holes all over the beach, or making sand castles, I hope to help them see it as making sand castles, you know, instead of always having to fix something or, you know, revamp or whatever. While those things are good. You don’t have to be doing that all the time to enjoy your life.

 

Catherine A. Wood  52:31

Totally. Absolutely. So if someone coping with herpes, or perhaps with some other, you know, challenge, who’s looking to suck more of the marrow out of life, like what are some tools, or places that you would have them start?

 

Drew Rabidoux  52:51

I think acknowledging and identifying the rule maker, the rule keeper is the most important. The rule keeper is that part of you, that’s like, you shouldn’t do this, you need to do this. You can’t, you know, go out with this person, because this is going to happen, right? There’s a part of that that might be intuition. However, intuition is like a long nagging. Where’s the rule keeper? Is this, you know, don’t do this. Don’t do that. You can’t enjoy your life, once you know that and who it is because it’s always somebody. Right? Always somebody and just acknowledge. Thank you. I hear you, and I’m okay. And move forward. That’s really what has to be done. I mean, it’s not. I’m not saying it’s easy. And I’m not saying it’s not a lot of work sometimes. But it’s so worth it to just be able to do that work and identify that.

 

Catherine A. Wood  53:59

I really love this Drew, what an amazing conversation. If people want to grab your course where can they find you?

 

Drew Rabidoux  54:07

So my website is www dot counseling with drew.com. All altogether the counselling withdrew, and it has all the information on there about, you know, therapy, the course for herpes. I also do EMDR which is for trauma. And I also do ketamine assisted psychotherapy, too. So, you know, I work with a lot of different modalities and a lot of different folks but mostly it’s people in transition, that that want to like process, the ship to be able to get on with it.

 

Catherine A. Wood  54:50

So cool. You truly you have the like superstar therapist award in my mind. Thank you Um, so just to close, you know, I think that this episode is so relevant for so many in my audience who, whether they have herpes or not like, we all have these these obstacles in life that we are ashamed of and get held back by and so whether it’s counseling or another healing modality, like we all have to do this work around accepting and forgiving and letting go of the shame so that we can get to this place of empowerment and, and zestful living. Yeah. So what what has supported you along the way, like what has made a difference for you and becoming the thriving prosperous Empath that you are?

 

Drew Rabidoux  55:52

I think always believing that things are going to work out, because they always do. I have a whole 47 years of things working out. And if they didn’t work out, it was a it was a blessing in disguise, usually right to prepare me for something else. But I think just just acknowledging that it’s not going to be all sunshine and rainbows all the time. And that doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong. Right? That means you have a life. Right? And it’s ours to live.

 

Catherine A. Wood  56:28

And love that. Thank you so much for today. This was an incredibly refreshing, joyful, humorous conversation about something that I imagine many find really hard and challenging.

 

Drew Rabidoux  56:43

Thank you for having me.

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I’M PREGNANT! The Twists & Turns of My Journey, Part 2 of 2

 

Disclaimer: This episode could be hard for some listeners to hear, especially if you’ve been struggling with conceiving. I’ll share that we are pregnant, and we have been blessed to have NOT had any miscarriages.

On this week’s episode of the Prosperous Empath®, I’m continuing to authentically share the behind-the-scenes of my pregnancy journey and the lessons I’ve learned along the way. Be sure to listen to last week’s episode if you haven’t already! In the beginning, the process was incredibly challenging for me because I went into it attached to a certain timeline in my mind – getting pregnant immediately – and it just didn’t happen that way for us. Instead, I had to stop trying to control the journey, trust the process, and discover ways of getting support that I hadn’t considered before. From seeing alternative healthcare providers and sharing my struggles more openly with family and friends to considering IVF and getting a medical procedure that finally helped us conceive naturally, I’m sharing all the details in today’s episode. If you’ve been struggling trying to conceive or know someone who is, I hope that my experience helps you feel less alone on your journey and more empowered to trust your instincts.

 

Visit this episode’s show notes page here.

The Prosperous Empath® Podcast is produced by Heart Centered Podcasting.

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