anyone else experience this? I've had acne since I was about 12 years old, sixth grade. of course it bothered me but i didnt get too depressed over it. yes i got made fun of for it, yes i didnt have many friends or a girlfriend because of it, but i didnt think it was all that bad. i just was able to accept the fact that i would be alone for the rest of my life and i wasnt too upset with that. i was able to accept this because i didnt know what it was like to live a good life, i didnt know what i was missing out on.
but eventually my acne got so bad i just had to go to a derm (i was about 16 at the time). he put me on some antibiotics and it actually cleared me 100% by the time i was 17. this was the first time in 5 years (almost 1/3 of my life) that i had normal skin. nothing about my personality really changed, i was still pretty shy and antisocial because of all the abuse i got when i had acne. but something else did change. i was able to get friends, i was even able to approach girls without them making fun of me. finally my life was getting better. i made some good friends and we started going to the gym and working out. the best feeling in the world is waking up to clear skin and not have to stare in the mirror feeling depressed about acne. i was litterally happy when i woke up in the mornings for the first time. i was even happy to go to school to talk to girls and friends. acne never even crossed my mind, it was out of my life completely.
but just when i was starting to reach my full potential i started to grow resistant to the antibiotics. my whole life came crashing down. acne came back and in full force. my friends abandoned me and girls wanted nothing to do with me again. i was thrust into a state of depression that i have never been able to get out of. my life didnt go back to the way it was before i cleared my acne, it is much, much worse. why is it worse? because i know now what i am missing out on. i know how great my life was when i had clear skin, and i know how terrible it is now. and i know ill never get it back, ill never be the same. everyday it gets harder and harder to live. i can barely even make it through the day because im just exhausted all the time (even though all i do is sleep). the only thing i can think about is having clear skin again. it consumes everything i do. i have lost scholarships, been made fun of, abused, mugged, and even kicked out of my home all due to acne.
the only thing that keeps me going is that 2 months of my life that i had clear skin. i just have to think one day i will get back to that. but those thoughts are slowly fading each day i wake up to a knew face of acne. all of my motivation is burning out. i dont know how much longer i can take this...
so basically the point of this thread is to say you cant fully understand how terrible acne is until you feel how good life is when you dont have it.
