What does it mean to love your skin? I’ll tell you what it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean only accepting it when you have poreless, clear skin without any hint of red. Hate to break it to you, unless you’re genetically #blessed, that perfect, perfect skin 24/7 does not exist. But what about those Instagram models? Honey, that is the work of filters, makeup, and distance. If you stood 3 feet away from the mirror instead of 3 inches, I can guarantee you wouldn’t see your pores or anything.
1. Why do I need skin affirmations?
2. Skin affirmations to love your skin more
An affirmation is a positive statement that helps you overcome self-sabotaging and negative thoughts (2). I’m not going to lie. As a natural-born pessimist, I once thought affirmations were just a load of BS from people who never struggled before. (Yes, I was quite the emo teenager). Here’s the thing: people struggle everyday, whether we see it or not. And affirmations are not just for the beautiful influencers on social media. They’re for everyone.
Your skin is a part of you. Whether we like it or not, our society can make us feel like sh*t. This is further compounded by social media, which in many cases, is highly edited to conceal individual flaws. And man, this seriously f*cks with our heads and gives us unnecessary resentment towards ourselves. Affirmations can help remind you to love your skin and love yourself.
Our imperfections are a part of us. We don’t necessarily have to be in love with every single thing on our bodies. While that’s ideal, it’s also somewhat unrealistic. What’s more important is to be able to accept ourselves for who we are and for what we look like.
According to positive psychology, gratitude is associated with to greater happiness (3). If we only focus on hating on our skin, our negative emotions can easily build up over time. You don’t want resentment to become a habit! While our skin may not be visually perfect, our skin has several key biological functions.
This includes (4)(5):
There is nothing constant in life besides change. We are in the middle of an evolution. No matter how “ugh” we feel right now, we know it won’t always feel like that.
Now here’s a big one. When it feels like you get pimple after never-ending pimple x 10000, it gets really hard. It gets to the point, where I start to question if my skin actually has the capability to heal itself. Why don’t others people seem to have the same kind of skin concerns I do? This is the time, where you need to keep faith in yourself. Maybe certain products don’t work for you, but there will be ones that do. Trust the process.
Okay, so maybe you’re starting to see results. Wait, then you breakout again, and the self-consciousness comes back in waves. You start to wonder if your products stopped working. First, take a deep breath. Healing is rarely linear. We have good skin days and some not-so-good skin days. That’s why at Mirra we like to say we have skin moods. And that’s okay and perfectly normal.
Just like our skin protects us, we need to protect our skin. When I used to hate my skin, I found skincare to be annoying and frustrating. Now, I find that taking care of my skin to be calming and almost meditative. I like that I choose to prioritize myself.
Acknowledge the effort your skin has given! Your skin has made it since birth to here, and that’s worth celebrating. Skin, I’m sorry for the abuse and bad skincare practices that I put you through in middle school.
Toxic positivity ain’t cute. Seriously, why do those quotes on social media make me feel guilty for having negative thoughts?? It’s normal to have negative thoughts. But let’s make it normal to also forgive ourselves for having them. It seems weird, but it makes a difference. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Self-compassion is a skill I’m still learning!
When we run into a challenge, we either rise to it or shy away from it. I mean, preferably we get to choose when our challenge is, but life isn’t like that. Challenge yourself to love yourself more in face of adversity (1).
At the end of the day, you may not love your skin. And that’s okay. Self-love is easier said than done in so many ways. It’s okay not to LOVE your skin, but it’s important to be able to ACCEPT your skin for the way it is. And please, stop scrutinizing your skin inches away from the mirror. Take three steps back!
Written by Jessica Lu
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