5 Things I Wish I Knew When I Had Acne

Acne is certainly one thing that will test your confidence. Even before my acne outbreak, I didn’t have high self-esteem, so when acne began covering my whole face, you can bet my self-esteem COMPLETELY plummeted. At least before, I had clear skin going for me, but when that was gone I felt like the most unattractive person in any room. That may sound dramatic, but if you have/had chronic acne, I know you understand. If acne has played a factor in stripping you of your confidence, these are a few things I wish I knew when I had acne:

1.) Keep Living Life

Once my acne became intense, I felt so insecure that it completely stopped me from wanting to do anything or go anywhere. My skin was what I thought about at least 90% of the time. I was so caught up in my looks that I wanted to put a hold on life until I felt like I was ‘presentable’ enough for the world to see me. My acne dictated my life and until it cleared up all I wanted to do was hide. For example, there were several jobs I wanted to apply for during my acne’s rage, but the thought of interviewing (which is anxiety-inducing enough) while my face was so bumpy and red was more than I could bear so I refused to even apply to them. Who knows what could’ve happened had a not let my insecurities hinder me.

Let’s take a moment of silence for all the plans I canceled, events I missed out on, and opportunities I passed up because I let acne rule my life.

If you’re currently hiding from the world due to acne, you’ll regret it. Trust me. Just live your life! Our days are numbered, so don’t waste a moment! Take it from someone who wasted months!

2.) Stop Talking About It

For some reason, when I did go out, I would ALWAYS bring up my acne in conversations. I wanted everyone to know that I knew it was bad and that I was working on fixing it so they wouldn’t think “Aww. God bless her. I wonder if she doesn’t wash her face and that’s why she’s breaking out so bad.”

For example, I’d say things like, “My face is so bumpy and inflamed right now. I know I’ve got a million whiteheads. Ah!” Why would I even say something like that? How were people supposed to respond to that? They couldn’t deny it. It is was right there. Even if they would’ve told me it wasn’t that bad, I wouldn’t have believed them anyway. All my unnecessary comments did were point out my insecurities and make things awkward. Now what?

I despise when people talk poorly about themselves and there I was doing it in every conversation. At the time I didn’t realize how much talking about my acne was affecting my actions and attitude, but looking back it 100% was. In the words of Lysa Terkeurst, “The mind feasts on what it focuses on.”

Since I was focused on my acne, it always ended up in conversations.

3.) Don’t Assume Others Are Obsessed with Your Acne

To this day, I show people my before and after pictures and I am still surprised at how many people are shocked by them. Most ask when my before shots were taken because they don’t remember my skin ever looking like that. I believe them. Why would they lie to me now when my face is clear? There would be no point. What that tells me is that I was wrong in assuming that the whole time I was obsessed with my skin, everyone else was too. At the time, I thought they were judging every imperfection and couldn’t talk to me without being disgusted by every bump and blemish that I inspected earlier in the day. What a relief it would have been to know back then that people weren’t as observant and judgemental as I thought.

4.) Don’t Let Acne Affect Your WHOLE LIFE

Before I went on Accutane, I felt like nothing I did would ever make my acne go away. Slowly but surely, I fell into a slump. I wouldn’t go as far as to say I was depressed, but I wasn’t as excited about life as I had always been. Instead of implementing good habits like working out, eating right, and putting effort into other things or activities that would make me feel good, I went in the total opposite direction. Unhealthy meals, constant snacking, binging Netflix, and leading a sedentary lifestyle made my self-esteem continually drop. Not only was I not okay with my skin, but I quickly got into a place where I wasn’t okay with anything else about me either. Had I implemented better habits, I know I wouldn’t have gotten into such bad physical and emotional shape. When you give in to self-pity, it becomes you.

5.) Seek Out Others with Acne

Social media is filled with accounts that celebrate body positivity and acne positivity. They’re encouraging and SO helpful! I finally caught onto them deep into my acne journey, and when I did, they gave me the boost I desperately needed. Seeing that I wasn’t alone and hearing story after story about how others weren’t letting their acne control their life helped me do the same. I only wish I had known about these accounts earlier so I wouldn’t have gotten into such a bad self-pitied slump.

Closing

If you’re in the midst of raging acne, I’m sure you can relate to how I felt, so put these tips into practice. I wasted so much time and let tons of cool opportunities and events pass me by all because I let self-doubt and insecurities overcome me. DON’T BE LIKE ME. Although at first, it’s easier said than done–DO NOT FOCUS ON YOUR ACNE. Remember that obsessing over something you cannot immediately change is wasted time, other people aren’t as concerned with your acne as you think, and you aren’t ALONE! Just take one day at a time.