When my skin clears up…
Do you have a list of things you want to do when your skin clears up? What’s on that list?
Up until a few years ago, I had a note saved on my phone titled “When I’m Healed” which contained a list of everything I wanted to do once my skin cleared up.
Now, someone who’s never struggled with acne would probably look at the list and laugh in my face. Because most things on the list were not out of this world, cool, bucket-list type things, but rather, everyday life things that most people probably take for granted. And yet, these were the things I so desperately wanted to do the most when every pore on my face was inflamed with severe cystic acne.
I just wanted to live my life without thinking twice about my skin or worrying about what other people were going to think about me.
Go visit friends
Sleep over at friend’s house
Go to brunch
Start exercising
Go hiking
Go camping
Go to a spa
Volunteer somewhere
Go grocery shopping without makeup on
Have dinner with friends
Learn how to surf
Go on a plane without makeup on
The list was ever-evolving with new things added to it everyday. I could NOT wait for the day I finally clear up my skin so I could start living my life again.
Until ONE day…
A thought popped up in my head: ‘Wait, why do I have to wait to have clear skin to do these things?’ Nowhere did it say anything about clear skin being a pre-requisite for any of them…
So who made up this BS rule that I “had” to have clear skin in order to do these things in the first place?
Me.
And that’s when I realized I could drop that BS rule at any time. I didn’t have to wait around to have clear skin to start living my life.
All I needed was to simply make a decision: to be brave.
And I started crossing off one bucket list item at a time. With a face full of acne.
Some things felt harder than others, and some days felt harder than others.
On most days, it felt extremely uncomfortable to put myself out there when I felt so raw and vulnerable. And there were many days I so badly wanted to crawl under a rock and hide.
But, I would decide again and again, to be brave. I would decide again and again, to drop my own made-up rules.
Long before my acne cleared up, I managed to go sky diving, move cross-country, solo travel around the world, AND cultivate a deeper relationship with all of my loved ones.
Not because I’m a magical unicorn, but simply because I made a decision.
What I realized over time, is that the worst thing that could happen as you cross off the bucket list items, is that you feel a negative emotion (discomfort, anxiety, embarrassment).
And even though it might feel like death on some of those days, there is nothing inherently wrong with feeling these things.
You could feel all of these negative emotions and still choose to do them anyway.
And it gets easier and easier as you get better and better at processing these negative feelings.
So here’s my message for you, friend.
You too can decide at any given moment to drop whatever BS rule you created in your head about clear skin being a prerequisite to you going after the things you want in your life.
You simply need to decide.
Going on dates? Traveling the world? Going on adventures with your loved ones? Snorkeling with turtles?
Whatever that is for you, it’s available for you too. Even before your skin clears.
Is it gonna be easy? Not at first.
Is it gonna be worth it? Absolutely.
Decide. Right here, right now.
Because there’s no better time to stop putting your life on hold and start creating the life you’re actually excited about.
“Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Take the moment and make it perfect.”
