How I Manifested Clear Skin

My beautiful clear skin :)

Acne is something I battled with for a good two decades. When I look at my children's porcelain skin it reminds me of how beautiful my skin once was, but once puberty struck, a war was launched. I remember in middle school going through that awful awkward phase (braces and all) and I felt like all the other girls were unfairly blessed. I felt like an ugly duckling. Everyone around me was growing breasts, getting tall and thin, and all that happened to me was gaining thirty pounds and acne. I remember in health class one of the large-breasted girls said "do we really need this class? We've all gotten our periods already." I felt like hiding under my desk, realizing I was the only one that hadn't gotten it yet. Or that growth spurt. It was like my body knew I hated everything about myself and it was rebelling in the form of acne. Often, I think this is actually what is happening. We know what happens when we speak negativity into plants and water. This has been studied. We do the same thing every time we criticize our bodies, feel shame about what we are eating, or stare at our skin in the mirror, analyzing every line, bump, and scar. Sometimes this is so engrained that we aren't even aware that we're doing it. It's just background noise. That is something that meditation gave me. Awareness of all of the inner dialogue that was going on that was completely derailing my happiness and success.

Prior to meeting with my now regular aesthetician, I had very little belief in their ability to fix my skin. I had gone for facials here and there in the past, and tried every acne product on the market. I was told over and over again that it just must be "hormones." If it wasn't hormones, it was dairy or gluten. I have not been a consumer of dairy or gluten for a while, and I have a nurse midwife that I go to regularly to test my hormones. I take naturally compounded progesterone by prescription. When I went to the dermatologist, they always wanted to put me on Accutane. I wanted no part of that because of all of the side effects (no shade whatsoever for those who use it), and when you are pregnant or breastfeeding, that's a no-no. Considering I've been pregnant or breastfeeding for about ten years, that wasn't going to happen. I was basically told that I had to wait until I was done having children and breastfeeding. For many years I accepted having terrible skin, and just assumed it had to be a part of my journey. Even when I looked on with jealousy at lots of other moms that had beautiful skin (and perfect petite bodies).

My blemished skin :(

So after the birth of my fourth child I finally decided it was time for some self care. This is the first step. For me, it was time to get back to that old self that prioritized my appearance. I had spent years on and off working in a hair salon, part-time, so I would make half-hearted efforts to dress up and do my hair, but it never came with a sense of pride. It was never about me or feeling good about myself. It was mostly the bare minimum just because of the job I had, or it was an attempt to cover myself up because I felt unattractive. Since realizing I would have some time for myself, I decided that self-care was a requirement. So I met with a nutritionist to fuel my body appropriately, committed to daily walks and meditation, and signed up with an aesthetician to address my skin concerns. I went into it with the intention of just playing. I liked watching women on Instagram doing their nightly skin care routine. There is something so soothing about that. I liked the care they were taking, and I loved the idea of having a little "me-time," even just for five minutes to apply my skin creams. So that is step two. Enjoying the process and geeking out on new products. Not looking to change my entire life overnight. Not dwelling on how my skin had "always been terrible." Just pretending to be one of those beautiful women on Instagram as I applied the cleansers and lotions with love and care. Telling a new story. That is the key to any successful manifestation, having fun and being the person that already has what you desire.

Step three was discipline that turned into belief. This is where most people fail. They go into something wanting immediate results, and when they don't get them, they assume this stuff doesn't work and give up. My aesthetician told me that by the end of summer (around three months) my skin would probably be much better. I think having that goal in mind had a lot to do with my quick success. He gave me hope that it wouldn't take very long, and he had confidence in his voice. I put trust into his hands. I followed the instructions diligently. Steps four and five were maintaining a disciplined routine of meditating every day, visualizing what it was like to have amazing skin, and affirming for my perfect skin. Meditating takes the pressure off of the results. It quiets your mind, that is often busy with negative and limiting beliefs. Meditating gives all of this a chance to actually work for you. For visualizing, I often did this either during meditation, or when I had some time to myself, like when I was doing laundry or dishes. I took a picture of myself and edited it to have crystal clear skin, and I would look at it and try to imagine what that would feel like. I also would imagine that people were complimenting my skin on how beautiful it was. I would hear my mom saying "wow! Your skin-care is really working!" (Spoiler alert, this has actually happened now multiple times). With affirmations, I would either repeat one phrase over and over again without really thinking about it while doing other things, or I would consciously do it anytime I became aware of my thoughts, like in the carpool line at school. You can use any phrase that feels natural to you, something you would actually say. In the past, when I attempted this, I immediately gave up when I didn't have instant results. The affirmations felt like a lie, and I was struggling to keep at it. I would go to the mirror and check my skin obsessively. "Did it work yet?" I would ask myself. When I looked in the mirror I would see the same old story. I figured "this stuff doesn't work for me." This is something that is not talked about enough. This brings me to step six, THESE THINGS TAKE TIME. Please do not pay attention to the YouTubers that promise instant results. Please do not assume that it is not working for you. This is where so many of us go wrong. We quit too soon. Yes, it is possible to manifest things instantly, no question about that. But if you've looked in the mirror your entire life and hated what you saw, you will not likely wake up the next morning and love everything about yourself. This is going to take some time to start believing this new story that you are telling yourself. That you love your skin. Your skin is flawless. Your skin is so beautiful. Your skin is like glass. By the way, those were some of my affirmations, feel free to steal those.

So to summarize, these are the steps and how I went about manifesting clear skin:

1. Prioritize self-care. Get yourself a skin-care routine you are excited about. Have fun with this! Research new products if that's your thing. I, personally, love to research! Get yourself an aesthetician if you can to curate your own routine.

2. Enjoy the process! Put love into your skin-care routine. Take it slow. Enjoy each step of your routine and visualize putting these products on beautiful, glass skin.

3. Stick to the routine. Do not quit after one week if your skin isn't instantly perfect. Give this process time.

4. Visualize yourself with beautiful skin if you can. I took a picture of myself and edited it to have crystal clear skin to help me get the visual. Look at old photos of yourself if you have had beautiful skin in the past. If you are not visual, imagine hearing people talking about your skin and how beautiful it is. You can pretend you're overhearing them and they don't know you're listening, or you can pretend people are coming up to you giving you compliments. Have fun!

5. Try affirmations. Affirmations will feel like lies at first, but the more you do it, eventually you start actually believing them to be true. You can say "my skin is so beautiful. My skin is like glass. Everyone loves my skin. Everyone wishes they had skin like mine. I love my beautiful skin."

6. Last but not least, give it time! I celebrated little wins along the way. My skin still isn't completely perfect as there are more things I'd like to work on, but I am extremely happy with my results so far! Don't give up. This works for everyone, it just might take some people longer than others depending on how long you've held these negative beliefs about yourself.

   
   
   
   

Good luck!