Living with herpes does not have to mean living with shame or living without physical contact. Living with herpes does mean telling potential sexual partners about your infection in a responsible and conscientious way.
During herpes outbreaks, protection is achieved by completely avoiding sore-to-skin contact. Understand the ways that genital herpes is spread so you do not pass it on to sexual partners. You can get creative and learn ways to have sexual contact, while avoiding the area that is directly affected.
Condoms do not offer sufficient protection when a sore is present, but check out some tips on using condoms safely to avoid transmission when herpes is inactive.