Having acne sucks, I know. Even though it’s not a life-threatening or serious disease, its impact on our emotional health is immense. God knows why it’s so powerful at making us feel so inadequate, isolated and insecure – perhaps because it’s so visible? Or perhaps because our appearance is so closely linked to the way we perceive ourselves? Acne will try and take over your life if you allow it to.

It can make people feel ugly and unloved enough to get angry at themselves or at the world. And acne can lead to a sense of loneliness and isolation. (WebMd)

Remember, being unhappy and stressed will only make acne worse, so don’t let it win! There are ways to make yourself feel better, and you can start right now. Keep reading if you want to learn how to stop acne from taking over your life, in 10 simple steps!

Step 1. Accept it.

That doesn’t mean stop fighting it. Just accept that you have it. Even the deepest problems in life become much more bearable once we accept them. There is nothing shameful or embarrassing about having acne – 3/4 of teenagers have it, and most people have had it at some point in their lives.

“Try to change something you don’t like, and if you really can’t change it, change your attitude towards it.” (WebMD)

Acceptance is a huge step towards finding a solution – sometimes it’s all it takes to unlock your subconscious intuition and knowledge of your body.

Step 2. Stop acne from taking over your life by using the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)

It’s a popular method of releasing painful emotions. It’s based on the premise that stress worsens acne, so it’s important to wipe out whatever it is that makes you feel stressed. In acne sufferers, it’s usually acne itself or any other negative emotions associated with it.

If you have low self-esteem, you’re probably saying that once you get rid of acne, you’re going to be so self-confident, you’re going to dress up more, you’re going to make more of an effort with your appearance, etc. But the reality is that once acne goes away, self-esteem issues remain. In my case (and I’m sure it applies to many acne sufferers), my anxiety went from being upset about the actual acne to worrying about it coming back. So every single new pimple would cause an army of negative thoughts and emotions racing through me.

The Emotional Freedom Technique is a great way to get rid of those negative thoughts before they take over your life and cause any more pimples. I first read about it on The Love Vitamin – check this page for detailed step-by-step instructions. It works on the same principles as acupuncture and doesn’t take a long time at all. Just tap on certain points of your body in a sequence explained in the article above while focusing on those painful negative emotions, and watch them go away!

Step 3. Build a support system

Find a friend or relative who will listen to you when you need to vent. It’s even better if they have/had acne or any other skin issues in the past. There is nothing better than realizing that you aren’t alone in this battle.

Thanks to the wonderful Internet world, we now have a lot of fantastic support groups and forums online as well. Not only will you find support that you need and will be able to share each other’s best practices but you could potentially find great friends, too!

Step 4. Find ways to nurture yourself

You are special, so treat yourself accordingly. That of course doesn’t mean you need to go on a shopping spree or indulge in an unhealthy dessert. There are so many amazing ways to treat yourself without spending lots of money or making yourself feel guilty.

My rule of thumb: if a treat is going to make you feel worse the day after – maybe you should go for something else.

Pampering yourself is a great way to improve your self-esteem and just in general to feel more positive about yourself and your life.

Just some ideas for feeling nurtured:

Have a lovely warm bath with candles and aromatic oils.
Give yourself some time to cuddle up and read your favourite book (I don’t know how about you but this is the treat of my dreams right now – haven’t had time for it in ages).
Cook a lovely healthy dinner for yourself and your family. Set the table, light the candles and have a lovely glass of red wine – don’t you feel better instantly?
Go for a relaxing massage or, if money is tight, get your partner to do it for you!
Buy yourself something small but meaningful – something that will instantly make you feel more beautiful, sexier and just more confident. I’m not a big fan of treating yourself by spending money but sometimes it’s necessary – especially for us girls.

Step 5. Be confident

Don’t let acne stop you from doing things that you want to do. I’ve definitely experienced that in the past – on bad skin days, I used to avoid putting on nice makeup or beautiful clothes. Somehow I just wanted to blend in and I hoped nobody would notice me. Wrong! How about faking the confidence until you actually start feeling more confident? It’s a bit like smiling until you actually start feeling happier. It truly works, have you tried?

Acne doesn’t define you, it’s not who you are – it’s just a little nuisance that will go away sooner or later. There are so many other things in you that are great and unique. Sit down and write a list of everything you love about yourself. See? I told you that you’re great. So why would you want to focus on one annoying little aspect called acne?

Step 6. Stop obsessing over mirrors and picking your skin

I’m not saying that you should cover all the mirrors in your house (although for some it might be a good idea at the beginning) but limit the time you spend obsessing over every single spot in front of a magnifying mirror. I admit I also used to be one of those people who spend ages analysing every single pore. And I did it every time I stepped inside the bathroom! I’m not even talking about the fact that bathroom lighting makes everything look a hundred times worse.

Obsessing over mirrors surely isn’t good but it often leads to skin picking, which will make your skin look much more irritated and may potentially leave scars. It’s a vicious circle and you should definitely get out of it – the next step will help you achieve it.

Step 7. Keep your mind busy or take control of it if you want to stop acne from taking over your life.

Go out with friends. Focus on your studies. Work hard on your dreams. Learn something new. Find a new hobby. Go hiking. Do whatever it is that rocks your boat.

Or you can take control of your mind by practising no-mind. Remember, our mind is just a computer and we should be in control of it. But sometimes our mind gets out of control and takes over our life with destructive negative thoughts. Read more about no-mind and reclaiming your mind back in these two life-changing books: The Power of Now by Eckhard Tolle and A Bug Free Mind by Andy Shaw.

This topic fascinates me, so I’ll certainly be writing more about it in the near future. Stay tuned!

Step 8. Be positive by being grateful and practising visualization

Write down a list of everything you are grateful for: experiences, emotions, things, people you love, etc. You can even be grateful for people who have hurt you because they’ve made you stronger and wiser.

Then spend 15 minutes every day focusing on each point one by one, trying to relive the happy moments, focusing on the feelings of intense gratefulness. You’ll feel instantly recharged.

Visualization is also a great tool – not only will it make you feel better but it will bring you closer to clear skin as well. Have you heard the saying that thoughts materialize? Both positive and negative! A lot of acne sufferers deep down don’t really believe they will ever have clear skin – I’ve certainly been there. The longer you spend battling with it, the harder it is imagining yourself with clear skin.

Try this exercise: close your eyes for a few minutes and imagine yourself with perfectly clear and beautiful skin. Imagine real situations, such as you walking on the street greeting people with a wide smile on your beautiful face and lots of confidence, imagine getting compliments for your skin or your loved one caressing your cheek and noting how soft is. Be as detailed as possible – the aim is to make it feel real.

With each day of practising it, having clear skin will feel less and less like a dream and more and more like a certain future.

Step 9. How to stop acne from taking over your life by exercising regularly

In addition to exercise actually improving your acne, it will also make you feel much more confident and happy, as well as release any accumulated stress. Exercising never fails making one feel empowered – and if you feel empowered, acne will have to hide!

Step 10. Get more sleep

You might be wondering what sleep has to do with your emotional health or acne. Well, it actually does a lot! It’s been proven that “the risk of psychological stress increases by 14% for every hour of sleep you lose a night” (WebMd). Not only will your skin look drier and redder after a bad night’s sleep but you’ll also be more stressed. So don’t skimp on sleep tonight if you want to wake up calmer and happier tomorrow!

Most of us have to deal with problem skin at some time, if not in our teenage years, possibly in our adult life. Acne can appear almost anywhere on the body, but face acne is more distressing because we can’t hide it.

So far, unfortunately, for many it is an ongoing battle, as trying to find acne help that works is nothing more than a process of elimination.

Acne help – 8 Tips to prevent acne

1) Acne help begins with reducing stress. Yes, stress is responsible for a lot of different problems in the body, including acne. If you are prone to acne outbreaks, then you’ve most likely noticed by now that your acne tends to get worse whenever your stress levels are on the rise.

It is important that you have to learn to calm down. Spend some quiet time by yourself whenever you can, just to relax and unwind. Avoid being with people who stress you, and do some research on stress management. Next to a good diet, being stress free is probably the best natural acne help.

Patients with acne may experience worsening of the disease during examinations. Furthermore, changes in acne severity correlate highly with increasing stress, suggesting that emotional stress from external sources may have a significant influence on acne.

2) Drink lots of water. Skin problems are very often a result of not drinking enough water. Acne on the skin is a sign that the body is lacking in something, and that something is sometimes just plain water. Many people have experienced a dramatic improvement in their acne simply by drinking enough water. Avoid sugary sodas and sports drinks.

3) Try a full body detox. Some of the rubbish we eat, and even the air that we breathe, force toxins into the body that have to be released. Sometimes the build up of toxins is stored in the liver and colon, so one of the places for these poison toxins to escape is…. through the skin.

Some of the acne cleansers that we apply to our skin contain chemicals that actually force the toxins back in to the body. So although the skin is being healed, the toxins are waiting under the surface to erupt again, and the problem returns, sometimes much worse.

4) Get enough sleep. Some naturalists believe that acne is not a disease, but a symptom of our body being out of balance. I’m not sure if I can go along with this theory completely, but I do accept that when we are deprived of sleep and rest it could make our acne problem more severe.

Either way, it will certainly do no harm to get more sleep and rest. Bringing the body back into balance is good for your whole system, so take some time for yourself to relax and make sure you get plenty of sleep.

5) Leave it alone. Yes, you do have to cleanse regularly, but don’t touch the infected areas with your hands, or you’ll run the risk of spreading it even further. Acne spots have bacteria and touching them can spread the bacteria.

6) Stop popping your zits. It’s so easy to give in to temptation and squeeze those spots. Squeezing can also assist spreading, and when your acne eventually does clear, you are more likely to be left with acne scars.

7) Get some exercise. Working up a sweat helps get rid of toxins from the body. It’s important to wash the sweat away and not let it rest on infected areas, as salt deposits can irritate. If you have long hair, tie it back. Exercise, with a good diet and lots of water is great for the skin.

8) Wash your hair at night. Make sure you wash your hair before you go to sleep. Oil from your hair transfers to your pillow, which in turn transfers to your face when you move about in your sleep. Keeping your hair short or tied back is not enough, make sure it’s washed before going to sleep.

Don’t suffer any longer. Get all the acne helps you need with natural acne solutions to get rid of acne fast and permanently.