Hey Everyone! 

10 years ago I became a teenager (I™m 23 now) and acne hit me HARD. I first started developing acne on my face. Soon after, I started seeing acne on my chest & back. I was in 7th grade! It made me SUPER self conscious because nobody else in my classes would breakout as frequently as I did. As the years passed, it got worse. Month after month, new red/painful/bumpy marks would appear on my face, back, & chest. For every 1 pimple that would heal, another 3 would appear. By the 8th grade, I was so self conscious about my acne on my body & face that I never took my shirt off in front of people (even my own family!) The fact that I kept this unfortunate condition to myself resulted in my back & chest getting completely covered in a mixture of deep cystic acne and acne scars. Talking to girls did NOT flow naturally as my acne took a hit on my confidence. Plus I didn™t want ANYONE to know how bad my body was. My acne took me on a psychological journey of depression, sadness, disappointment, disgust, and anger. This lasted all throughout my middle school, high school, & college years. I did end up bringing it up to my parents & I did get checked by a dermatologist when I was in high school. No medication prescribed ever really worked however. This made me lose hope even more & the psychological journey continued. Anytime my friends invited me to places that would require me to take my shirt off, I would find an excuse not to go because I didn™t want them to see my acne-covered body. I missed out on pool parties, the beach, lakes, school sports, and dating girls. In my college years I also discovered alcohol. I didn™t know this at the time but I would use alcohol as a way to temporarily fade away the accumulated negative emotions & thoughts I subconsciously held throughout my teenage years. After college, I started looking into self inquiry. I wanted to improve every aspect of my life & started to re-train my mind to focus on the positive things in life. I™ve learned A LOT this past year & mainly these past couple of months. I started working out, reading, socializing more, and most importantly accepting myself for who I am. I™m still a work in progress but I find it so fascinating how it really all boils down to PERSPECTIVE. Sure I have horrible acne scars on my back/chest, however, it™s something that™s out of my control and it™s something that will eventually fade away over time. I no longer deal with negative emotions nearly as much as I used to (sure I still feel bad/sad here and there but NOWHERE near as much as most of my young adult life) I want to share my experience & if you can relate to anything that I have written about, I want you to know that you can fight back! Your mind is a WEAPON. Do not let that weapon be used against you. Take control of that weapon by changing your perspective. I wish I knew this the moment acne started taking control of my life 10 years ago. I feel like I missed out on a lot of great experiences, moments, relationships, and opportunities all because I let my acne take control of my perspective in life. I™m going to post pictures of my body in its current condition (Its pretty bad) but at this point in my life, I™m learning to embrace myself for who I truly am, and not gunna lie, it™s one of the best feelings in the world!