More than half of my life has been spent struggling with acne.

My grades in school

The quality of friendships and relationships I've had

My confidence or lack there of

Memories

My quality of Life was in jeopardy.

Over the years, this condition has done a number on me in ways I never fully realized until recently. Acne is not viewed as a "serious condition", yet it has serious psychosomatic effects on anyone who is experiencing it. Psychosomatic= pertaining to or involving both the mind and the body.

The following are 10+ ways I've personally allowed my acne to dictate my life and how I live it:

1. Upon waking up in the morning, one look in the mirror sets the tone for the rest of the day. The following is likely to happen:

A) You get angry and want desperately to rip your face off and then call out of work because you don't think you can take having your face stared at by your coworkers or be seen by strangers.

B) You become upset and ask yourself, "why me?" and then call out of work.

C) You get annoyed, say "here we go" and grab your "skin regime bag" proceeding to do your face cleansing routine. You then whip out your Grade A [fill in the blank] foundation. At times, it is still obvious you have acne, but you tell yourself, "the bills still have to be paid" and continue getting ready to start your day.

D) You completely ignore the mirror.

2. When random people or those close to you offer their unsolicited advice, you politely say thank you, but inside you hurt. On other days you become very irritated because sometimes you try to forget the condition of your skin. Some days you choose to pretend that nothing is wrong, but then that one person comes along and reminds you, completely killing your fantasy.

3. You have an extensive collection of over-the-counter skincare products, probably because of the type of people listed in #2. Even though you secretly dislike them for making comments about your face, you still went ahead and tried out some of their suggestions.

4. You don't look people in their eyes, you're judged as standoffish, considered flaky and confusing. Deep down this isn't who you are, but depending on how bad your latest breakout turned out to be you feel you don't have a choice but to react accordingly.

5. You only go out at night.

6. You have a love/hate relationship with natural light or all light for that matter.

7.You don't take many selfies. You dread being in front of cameras.

8. You're a slave to your makeup.

9. The minute your skin improves to your liking, you feel as though you can take over the world. You smile more, you work up the courage to be flirty, you're more social, you laugh. You do a complete 180.

10. You don't have a social circle or you're lacking in the friends department. They've given up extending the invitation to do fun things and getting a "No" in return.

If you take anything away from this post it is that you've given yourself an excuse to not live a full life.

As my 7th grade teacher used to make us recite whenever a student gave an excuse for why they didn't turn in their homework:

"Excuses are the tools of the incompetent. Used to build monuments to no one. Those who use them seldom succeed in anything they do." --Anonymous

Which point rings true for you or what would you add? Comment below! If you like what you've read, check out the expanded version on my blog page. It highlights some of my personal struggles in all of these areas.

KayJ