6 replies to this topic

[UchihaSalah]

I believe that there is a correlation that looking at yourself in the mirror will only aggravate your acne. Thus if yo don't look at yourself in the mirror you will think you don't have acne. Sending a message to the brain say F this you can't do this any more.

DAY 1: Took down all the mirrors. Did not look at the bathroom windows. I Feel much better about myself. I didn't look in the bathroom so I don't know if I see any big pimples or cysts. Did not touch my face either.

Edited by UchihaSalah, 13 March 2011 - 07:01 PM.

[UchihaSalah]

It's quite hard to do that, trust me! I've tried.

To be honest, I think the mirror plays a much bigger role than we bother to think! Especially when we constantly look every few minutes - which I've been doing today, looking all the time. It's like thinking "I know that pimple was there 5 minutes ago... BUT maybe it's not there anymore! I have to check!" and then you get all disappointed when it's still there.

I hope this works out for you! I think you should get a goal as to how long you'd want to go without looking in the mirror (the only reflective surface you can look in if you have to is something like a TV screen, nothing that lets you see your skin). I'd recommend at least 3 weeks, which is a long time, but I think that it would be wise to go at least a few weeks to help you get past the NEED for a mirror. In fact, in the summer when I was sick, I didn't look at myself all that much for about 3 weeks or so. And I was clearing up.

Since looking in the mirror doesn't really change my skin, and since mirrors lead to me picking, I think I'll join you in this attempt Do you mind if I post here a bit with my own thoughts/annoyances? We can help keep each other motivated. Since I've looked a lot today, I'll start tomorrow. So tonight will be the last time I look in the mirror, although I might still look at myself from afar in my bedroom mirror when getting ready for classes, since I can't see myself very well without my glasses, and it will be too blurry for me to see any detail.

Yeah that's alright you can post. I was thinking about a time goal so three weeks actually is pretty good. Your right about the whole mirrors lead to picking. Since there won't be a lot of activity (not much to report about your face if you don't know what it looks like) I will try to post maybe every two days. I think it's alright if you look at yourself from afar. In fact it maybe better it might send a brain signal that I actually have a decent face. (since you can't see pimples) I know there will always be an urge to look at your face in the mirror and feel free to comment on your thoughts especially if you want to shout at that person that looks at you and you really want to look at your face. Good Luck!

edit: Whoops I put can't instead of can sorry.

Edited by UchihaSalah, 13 March 2011 - 07:46 PM.

[UchihaSalah]

Can't as in can? Lol. Best of luck to you as well, we can do it! And btw, here's a post that might be worth reading:
http://theanonymousguru.com/tips-on-how-to...2-stop-looking/

Looking at myself rihgt now from afar in my room, I look good. Aside from a few really red spots, I actually look almost normal. But then up close, it's like nope, you look like shit! Hopefully I can just make myself stop thinking about it and stop freaking out so much. I might just post things like "God, I wish I could see whether I have a new pustule or not!" and "I wonder how shitty I look today!" lol. But I'll mostly just make sure to check back whenever you post to keep you motivated and to keep you on track And that will then hopefully keep ME on track. My "due date" for the mirror is April 1st. Which is a Friday, and I have no class then. So maybe at the end of the day that day, I'll look at myself from afar, then up close, and see what I see.

Thanks for the article it helped a lot. Instead of looking at my face on April 1st I am going to take a picture of my face now but instead of looking at them now I will post on April 1st with an picture afterwords. And then post What I look like. So hopefully by April 1st I should have a nice face.

[UchihaSalah]

Ah, so a Before and After? If my camera had its battery and if I had a way of uploading them, I'd do the same!

It does make sense though, in that article. If you were to try to NOT think about something, that is what you will think about. So it's good to just go out there with a positive attitude about your appearance and keep wtih that thought. I will try to distract myself with homework and other things, and try to forget about acne. It will be hard though.

I'm going to try to distract myself as well. I have no homework for college tomorrow. So tonight I am going to appreciate how good a life I really have. I am going to watch all the episodes of School Days. If you watched this your probably like how is that going to appreciate your life. Damn my life is a thousand times better then any characters in this anime. It's my feel good series.

[UchihaSalah]

Day 2:Wow this is going to be longer then I thought. Feels like all the other logs went by in a breeze. Woke up today and broke the habit of looking in the mirror when I wake up. Drove to school.
Let me tell you it's not that hard to drive and avoid looking at yourself in the mirror. Not much else to do so preparing for a test on Thursday. How do I feel? I actually feel better. Like feeling like a person without acne. Those people that can just go outside and not have to worry. 19 more days to go.

[UchihaSalah]

That's alright. I will get through somehow. I'll try to post my pics so come back on April 1st to see them. Hopefully I don't have acne anymore. But this experiment should tell me if acne really is affected emotionally. At first I thought that Acne was hormonal but then I looked at other people that didn't have acne and said to myself WTF they don't have hormones? Are they human lol. So I thought it's not hormones. But then I looked at Accutane success and then I think again this has to be hormonal. Which it probably is since 99% of all people that have acne start during puberty. But I wasn't entirely sure it was hormones. Then I looked if it had to doing with a dirty face. But I have seen people put a ton of weird stuff and not get acne. Crossed that out. So is it emotions? I do believe it partially has to do with hormones but it get worse with emotions. To end actually I have no proof for this but I believe that acne has to do with genetics. Well that's my rant for the day. Good Luck!

[whatnow...]

i havent looked in the mirror since nov 1. 2010 and since July 2010 once. at first its hard cause you're so used to it, but after about 2 weeks it becomes a habit, avoiding the mirrors. now i dont even think about it anymore and feel totally fine