Acne: Curse Or A Blessing?
I remember during one basketball game, I was sitting at the bleachers with a few of my fellow cheerleaders, and a boy walked by who had severe acne, and one of the girls looked at him and said, “Ew. He’s so dirty. If he just showered more often his face wouldn’t look so bad.” Now, of course, this was said by someone who had a perfect complexion and never had one tiny blemish the whole time I had known her. I chimed in with, “Being clean doesn’t mean you won’t have acne. I have acne sometimes, and I’m a clean person.” All she did was roll her eyes and say that that’s not the same and stood by her statement that he was dirty and that’s why he looked like that. At the time, my skin was going through a calm period, and I wasn’t breaking out as bad – therefore, she didn’t consider me as someone with “bad skin.” I thought to myself, “Is that what strangers think of me when I’m breaking out? That I’m dirty and somehow deserving of having inflamed painful acne?”
I’m not here to shame this person for saying that; it happened like 12 years ago, and I’m clearly over it…
What I didn’t understand then, that I’m starting to grasp now, is that Acne can be your body trying to communicate with you. Think about it this way, most people, when they have an allergic reaction to something they ingest or have come to contact with, it first shows up as a rash, bump, or some sort of irritation on their skin. That’s your body telling you, “Hey. I know your buddies can have this willy-nilly, but we can’t. Stop now, or it will only get worse!.” Acne can work in a similar way.
If you have an allergy to a food item, you will most likely know because your body will make you acutely aware of it almost immediately after coming in contact with it. Acne is more tricky. It can have many different triggers: stress, food, sleeping patterns, environment, lifestyle, hormones, medication, etc. Unlike an allergic reaction, your acne flare-ups may take days, even weeks to form. Or even worse, you may be someone who struggles with cystic acne daily, and being able to pinpoint your triggers will be more complicated and a journey that can take years and lots of patience with yourself (Hello, I’m talking about me!).
Breakouts are normal. They will happen. Just based on all the potential triggers I stated above, they will happen. It’s a part of life for many of us. However, if you are experiencing more breakouts than normal, if they are painful, if they are spreading to your back and chest, this could be a sign that something within your body may be out of sorts. Take this opportunity to pay closer attention to your routines. What you ingest and how you deal with stress can be HUGE triggers for many of us. I personally can’t have gluten in my diet at all, a big no-no to my skin. I also can’t ingest large amounts of dairy, soy, or iodined salts (and I loooooooove salt, no matter the kind). These food items make a monumental impact on my skin and my overall well-being, and being honest, if it weren’t for my acne, I may have never found this out. I may have gone the rest of my life eating these overly used ingredients in pretty much every meal of the day and felt slightly crappier with each passing day.
I’m not saying that acne is easy to deal with or even desired in any way. I know firsthand the toll that acne can cause in one’s life. Everything from Anxiety attacks to depression. From the physical to the emotional stress, it’s a constant struggle. All I’m saying is, if you chose to look at it as a way of your body trying to send you clues about your health, you may be more grateful for the opportunity to get your body and mind on the health journey that it needs and deserves. No two bodies are the same. Comparing your struggle with someone else’s will not help you, nor will it be a healthy habit to form. Patience, self-acceptance, and self-accountability are all keys for you to decipher what your body is trying to tell you.
I hope this has helped you see that if you struggle with acne, you are not alone!! You may feel lonely, but you are never alone! If you are suffering mentally because of your skin, know that help is available. You are not vain nor shallow for wanting to feel comfortable in your own skin!! And that’s the tea.
XO – Pachee
