Bobby

This is another guest post by Bobby Thomas, who shares everything that works for him in his goal towards clear skin over at Addicted Skin Care. He also hosts a new healthy habits challenge each month which you can join here.

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Yes I said it, there is a good side to having acne!

This is especially true if you took the decision to go down the natural route to clearing it (or are thinking about doing so), which I am assuming you have if you read The Love Vitamin.

If you are now thinking “Bobby, there is no good side to having acne dude…trust me,” then I bet by the end of this I can convince you that having acne really can be a good thing for you long term.

But first…

Let’s Have A Blast Back To The Past

I’m assuming here that before you had acne, like me, you really did not look after your health or body too well.

Your diet would have consisted mostly of takeaways and fried foods. Your skincare routine would have been a flannel with soap and that’s it. You would have happily drunk alcohol every weekend. In fact, you would have made it your mission to be the last one standing out of your friends!

You would have applied anything onto your skin without giving it a second thought. Your exercise routine would have consisted of lifting the TV remote every 30 minutes or so to change the channel… and it goes on….

Whether that resonates with you or not, it definitely does with me, and a few others I know. 

Fast Forward

When acne struck, after using the traditional western methods that did not work for me, I decided to go down the holistic route.

For the first time EVER, I was conscious of what I was doing to my health. No longer was it acceptable for me to damage my health by the decisions I was making back then, that I knew long term would most likely have consequences.

When the light bulb moment came, I started to slowly make changes.

Change 1 – Diet

One of the first things I knew I had to change was my diet. My diet was even worse than the typical person’s diet.

I slowly started to take foods out that I knew had a high risk of being the possible cause of my acne, or at least making it worse.

These foods included dairy, wheat, and greasy foods. At first it was difficult without these things that had been a staple in my diet for a long time, however as time passed it got easier and easier.

Once you see an improvement in your skin after taking certain foods out, you can then begin to add foods back in, and if your skin then starts to break out again after you add something back in, you simply remove It.

Over all, my diet – while not yet being where I want it to be – is much healthier than it was before I had acne, which can only be a positive thing.

Change 2 – Skin Care Routine

Using some $0.99 soap and a flannel that everyone else was using was no longer even something I would consider, where as before it was normal and I wouldn’t have even thought twice about it.

That’s not me trying to be a snob, but realizing that I had to take proper care of my skin if I wanted to see results.

My new skin care routine used natural products that where much more beneficial for my skin. Even better than that was the fact that they worked 100x times better than any OTC product I had ever used.

If it wasn’t for having acne, I can guarantee you I would still have been using the same old products that were damaging my skin rather than improving it.

Change 3 – Exercise

A huge step for anyone is committing to some kind of exercise. It doesn’t have to be a strict regime that you must carry out every day no matter what – in fact, that can potentially have negative effects.

Instead, what I did was find a hobby that was really active. I live in the United Kingdom, so I decided to start playing cricket.

I did not join a team or anything because that’s not my thing, instead I just went over to the park to play it with my mates.

If it was not for having acne, it is definitely debatable as to whether I would have found a hobby that was not only fun, but kept me fit and healthy as well.

Change 4 – Stress

Getting totally away from stress is impossible. As human beings we stress about everything. If our hair doesn’t go right we stress, if we have an important date coming up we stress, if you can’t find matching socks we stress – you get the picture.

While getting totally away from stress may not be possible, acne definitely helped me realize how important it was to reduce stress.

After doing a lot of research I found two sure-fire ways to help with stress. I bet you can guess what they are?

Yoga and meditation. Did you guess right?

These two things together can be a really powerful stress buster. If you think stress is causing your acne I highly recommend you try them out.

Again, I have acne to thank for helping me realize how important it is to reduce stress. If I did not have acne, would I have made the decision to look for solutions?

Change 5 – Outlook

The last, and possibly the biggest thing I have acne to thank for is how my outlook on life has changed.

Being the last one standing on a night out is no longer important to me, being the first one to finish a massive meal is no longer what I worry about, trying to be the one who does the stupidest things to look cool in order to fit in is no longer at the forefront of my mind.

Instead, I only worry about the things that really are important, such as if my family and friends are happy, what I can do today that will make someone feel good about themselves etc. These are the things that are now much more important to me.

And as I have already said many times, I have acne to thank for that…so acne…thank you! Just don’t come back any time soon, ha.

Did I convince you that in the long run, having acne really can be a good thing? Was it a nice change reading something positive in a world full of negativity? I look forward to your responses in the comment section below.