Skincare From The Inside Out

No. I'm not talking about what you eat.

That's also important, but today I want to talk about your relationship with yourself and the role your mental health plays on your skin. Have you noticed that your skin looks much better when you also feel good? That may be harder to notice because we tend to not pay attention to the positive aspects of our life. But what about when you're stressed, anxious, sad, etc.? Have you noticed an increase in skin issues then? (hello, stress breakouts!).

It goes even further than breakouts. I find that when I'm critical of myself, feeling detached, or even judgmental, I look like crap. To be honest, I think I emphasize self-care so much because it's way easier to talk about than self-love. Yes, they're connected. I practice self-care as an act of self-love. Without either of them, wellbeing is not complete. And my skin lets me know.

This wasn't always the case. Initially, self-care for me was all about the face mask or getting facial treatments at a spa. And I still love doing that, but neither of those alone helps me love myself more. It's not always perfect and it takes effort, but I practice self-care as a constant reminder to practice self-love continuously:

• I put on my moisturizer not because my skin is not good enough, but because I deserve to treat myself with the most delicate touch

• I meditate not because this will fix me, but because I am worthy of being self-aware and mindful about what's best for me

• I journal not because I have mental health issues, but because I'm strong enough to accept what is coming up, digesting it, and moving on

• I give myself a facial massage, not because I don't want my skin to sag, but because I enjoy the connection with myself (and it can be extremely soothing and can have incredible health benefits

I'm mindful of my self-love practices and give self-care a deeper meaning through them. I remind myself how important I am and how much I value my wellbeing. Because:

Growing, learning, evolving = self-love.

Acknowledging your strengths = self-love.

Appreciating aspects of yourself that you previously neglected/disliked = self-love.

Be gentle with yourself

Building this habit takes effort. And I'm aware that not everyone is able to spend the time or resources on themselves. And despite my efforts of trying to make it extremely simple and shifting the perspective about what is considered self-love, if you're still not able to do this, that's okay. You're doing the best you can. But I do encourage you to find support if it IS something you are looking to do but feel limited.

The biggest self-love act: self-compassion. Be gentle with yourself

Photo by Michelle Bonkosky via Unsplash

Ways I practice self-love (inspiration for yourself!)

1. I've named the negative voice in my mind and when I catch myself being critical of myself, I talk directly to him (I decided my inner critic was male a long time ago, a conversation for another day 😂). I try to shut him down as soon as I notice his criticism by telling him that we're not engaging today.

2. Meditation. This one comes in different shapes and forms for me, so I guess it’s about my spirituality? I've done mindfulness, ThetaHealing, hypnosis, and other practices that I consider all as part of my wellbeing repertoire.

3. Looking at myself in the mirror and smiling. Plus, repeating positive affirmations that I've come up with.

4. Journaling. This is probably my favorite one. I've found over the years that writing is the perfect outlet for me. In the past, I've used 750words.com, an online platform that serves as a digital journal. It's based on Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way Morning Pages: you can write about anything and everything. It's about getting it all out of your head and is not supposed to be edited or censored in any way. I still sometimes aim for 750 words (there's a reasoning behind this) but sometimes I just write a gratitude list and other times I just do a few sentences by hand. But I definitely notice a difference when I haven't done some version of journaling in myself and feel much better when I'm back! Another person who's all about journaling and who I love is Katie Dalebout.

5. I have a running list of 100 things I love about myself. I'll be honest, I'm not at 100 yet. But I know they're there and it's just a continuous work to identify them and embrace them.

6. Therapy. Why are we not all in therapy? Seriously I don't think there's anything better for your skin than a good therapy session!

7. Facial massage. Touch has many benefits, from alleviating depression, improving our immune function, reducing pain, enhancing attentiveness, decreasing blood pressure, among others. Of course, when someone else touches you or does the massage on you this is great, but there is also an argument for the benefits of self-touch.

The bottom line is that as you cultivate a practice of self-love and work on how you feel internally, you will see a difference in how your skin responds.