I'll be completely, brutally honest with you all- I am a total pizza face. My face is spotty, irritated, and red as hell ninety percent of the time and it pisses me off to no end. My skin is so ridiculously sensitive that one tiny mishap in my usual face regimen and the whole damn thing goes up in flames. If I have one tiny sip of dairy milk instead of my usual and beloved almond milk, I am left with a red, shiny chin for a week.

I've struggled with acne for most of my life. I remember being nine years old and having my first pimple. It wasn't some small, barely noticeable bump that little kids tend to get as they start getting closer to that preteen age. Oh no, this bad boy was a giant, angry cyst the size of a nickel sticking out in the middle of my face, an eye-catching target. I remember feeling so embarrassed and disgusted with myself, I remember wanting to hide away. That feeling is heartbreaking.

Throughout my adolescence I've suffered with cystic acne. I've emptied countless bottles of different cleansers hoping for a miracle, and even took Accutane for a period of time. My skin has gone through so many ups and downs, with my emotions along for the ride. Currently my skin is at a high point- I took it upon myself to make doctors appointments and be proactive about what I can do for my skin instead of moping about it like I used to do. Now granted, I think a certain amount of pouting and feeling a little sorry for yourself is warranted! But at the end of the day, the only way you're going to start feeling better about the condition your skin is in (and in turn, how you feel about yourself) is by taking steps to find answers to your problems. For me personally, when I started to figure out things I could do to make my acne better, I actually felt a lot better about myself. Even if my medicines or prescribed cleansers hadn't really kicked in yet, I was already feeling so much more confident in myself because I knew I was in a much better position than I had previously been in.

I'm telling you all these rather personal details about my skin and the battles it has been through because I know there are so many people out there that can relate to the same struggles. I'm putting this all out there because it's so damn easy to nitpick each and every one of our imperfections in the mirror and feel as if no one can possibly understand how shitty we're feeling. I want people to know that I've been there before, that I am there now! Yes, it's hard to shake off feelings of inadequacy or jealousy when we constantly are surrounded by people that don't seem to struggle as much with their appearance as we do. But we need to remember that just because we may not see the same "flaws" on someone else, it doesn't mean that they aren't struggling to deal with what they personally deem imperfections.

I'm almost twenty years old dealing with the same issues I was dealing with in middle school. It's frustrating, definitely! It's still a sore spot for me (no pun intended), and I'd be completely lying if I said that it doesn't bother me. However, I've learned some very valuable lessons throughout my journey with acne and for all my gals (and fellas if you're reading, there's room for everyone in this little club of mine!) who need some encouragement to keep pushing forward, I have one question for you:

Who honestly gives a shit about your acne other than you?

Anyone that has a problem or is disgusted with something as natural as acne, that's just as natural as wrinkles, cellulite, stretch marks, scarring, et cetera is probably (*ahem* most definitely) an ass who isn't worth your time or energy.

After ten years of dealing with my crappy skin, here are some things I can guarantee you: no one is staring at your acne, and even if they are they sure as hell don't have the balls to say anything about it. No one is pointing your acne out to other people. No one else thinks it is as bad as you do.

The biggest thing that helped me stop caring so much over every single breakout was changing how I cared for my acne. I realized that things like acne don't really respond well to aggression; it takes patience and tough love for it to start getting better. It's not picking and scarring your skin and putting a million products over each bump in the hopes that it will clear up over night. It's something that with the proper care and attention, can be healed. Remember that word: healed. Not eradicated!

You are not defined by the texture, sensitivity, or discoloration of your skin. Sometimes it doesn't feel like that, I get it. But you can't let something so superficial dictate how you view yourself, how you live your life, and how you express who you are.