It Shows on Your Face

It would take me a long time to realize my face was just reflecting what I was feeling emotionally and physically. I thought I just had bad skin that was constantly broken out because it was very oily. Constantly I’d feel the latest new deep seated pimple building and I’d bury it under make-up to try to detract from it being what people saw first at work or when going out. Maybe it did work but I’d be sitting in meetings feeling my face itch and this pimple seem as large as my cheek so I knew I couldn’t be fooling anyone. How could they not see it? After years and lots of money I finally realized my face was just reflecting back what I was feeling because it had nowhere else to go.

Our faces are just that. Reflections of how we feel. We think it is just our feelings that are showing through our smiles, sighs and even tears but it is so much more. Our physical health also shows on our face. Through our face we can tell often if we are tired, stressed, run-down, not feeling well or even having problems we don’t even realize yet. I never appreciated the messages my body was sending to my face but I feel like I at least understand a little bit better what it is trying to tell me these days. Sometimes it takes a loud message to really get my attention you know, and nothing says hear me than large pimples right?

What finally worked for me was addressing my digestive system and stress in my life. You would think I’d catch on quicker to the culprit given that I did usually have had a regular runin with both heartburn and constipation in my life. It was just stress you know? Everyone has it in their life and what else do you do about it besides push through? I didn’t have time to whine about it either. I would just pop an antacid and crack on. Yes I know it wasn’t good for me, neither was the constant pre-packaged foods that made food quick to get either. Yet we do what we do to get through the day.

The problem is and I think this is true for a lot of us is we don’t know how to balance it all. We are buried in constant things demanding our attention and time leaving very little for ourselves. At the end of the day, we lack the energy and interest to care what our own body and mind need. I was and sometimes still am guilty of that. It took me realizing none of the expensive creams, dermatologist treatments, sun lamps, medicines and anything else I was doing or not doing working for me to say enough! What is really going on here and how do we solve it?

I started by stopping all the crazy things I was doing to my face that weren’t working anyway. I just left it alone for a while. For my digestive system I also quit the antacids. That was also uncomfortable. Like my face it felt like my digestive system was on fire all the time but I was determined to find a fix that worked longer than a few hours. During the next few months I would be quite miserable but I knew I had to detox from what I was doing and start from level zero to find a fresh path forward.

It was also at this time I knew I had to make other changes in my life about stress management. Just accepting it and not letting it bother you, whatever it is for you, is not always the best answer. Stress doesn’t just magically go away sometimes, particularly when it involves your family, job or both. It wears on you like a sweater that you cannot take off when you get too warm. Eventually, it builds into a bigger situation until you break. I was not willing to break so I decided to change.

We can say we know we should eat better, drink water, rest and exercise regularly but until we have a problem most of us don’t take that advice seriously. It is something else we will get to w