Manifesting: the act of making something happen by imagining it and consciously thinking that it will happen. Most people use this form of thinking to bring positive things into their lives: new job opportunities, abundance, health, etc. But what about the negative side of manifesting?
Have you ever gone into a long hair appointment with the worlds biggest zit? Stay with me here: you go into an appointment where you’re just staring at a mirror for 3 hours while your wonderful hairstylist works her magic on your hair. Now what are you focused on those 3 hours while you’re staring at yourself? Probably the fact that you look terrible at that angle with your hair pulled up the way it is, and don’t worry, literally no one looks good like that — it’s a universal law. You’re still gorgeous, I promise! What you’re probably also focusing on is the zit on your face. The zit you’re convinced is the biggest that’s ever existed and you’re so sure everyone in the salon is staring at it (even though they aren’t, you’re the only one that really sees it). So what happens after those 3 hours of giving that blemish your undying attention? You leave your appointment, your hair looks fabulous, and somehow the worlds biggest pimple that decided to take up residence on your face is even BIGGER.
How is this even possible? You didn’t touch it, you didn’t mess with it, no external thing should have made this blemish even bigger and angrier. Your own mind did it. Yes, I’m sorry to tell you, your own mind sabotaged your face.
If you’ve learned anything about manifesting or the power of your subconscious then you know the more you focus on something and truly believe something will come to be, then in theory, it will come to be. I know there’s a lot of skepticism surrounding manifesting and bringing things into reality using the power of your subconscious but I personally think there’s something to it. What I’m trying to say here is: this can work in a positive or a negative way for you. If you’re staring at your face and obsessing about your zit or your breakouts and putting all of your focus and attention on them they’re bound to get worse and multiply.
Let me give you another example. Growing up I wasn’t acne prone. I actually had extremely clear skin, and because of that I never even thought about acne. My subconscious had the belief that I had clear skin. Fast forward lots of years later and some skin hiccups here and there, I still didn’t necessarily have acne prone skin. What I did have was unbalanced hormones that outwardly manifested as those fun little pimples you get on the right side of your chin.
Well a couple times I went to get a facial by a friend — a fellow esthetician— and, very well meaning-ly, she dropped the phrase, “acne prone” at me. As an Esthetician this is just part of the job and certain verbiage you just use with your clients. However, for me personally it planted a seed that had never been in my mind. All of a sudden whenever the smallest blemish would pop up on my face my mind would whisper, “I’m acne prone”. Now this is not me blaming my friend and fellow esthetician, it was MY mind that turned to acne-stressed-out chaos. However, once that snowball started rolling down the hill of my subconscious it was hard to stop and guess what happened? I became actually acne prone. Now I wasn’t just breaking out because of hormones, I was breaking out from EVERYTHING and I was breaking out everywhere. Does this sound familiar to anyone? It was like as soon as I gave this belief air it was on a rampage.
I spent months, maybe even a year, obsessing and stressing about every little thing that could make me break out and how bad my skin looked because of the breakouts. I couldn’t eat an egg without thinking, “is this what’s causing me to break out?” And lot’s of other scenarios like that. All the stress about my face combined with real life stress over other things caused my cortisol to spike and over time I got adrenal fatigue, and then my face REALLY broke out. It was a viscous cycle of: obsess, stress, breakout, repeat. Over and over again. Until one day it just clicked. I realized the true beginning of this particular issue was that little seed that was planted.
So I started to work on reframing my mind about my skin. As soon as the thought of me being acne prone popped into my head I would immediately tell myself, “No, that’s wrong, I have clear beautiful skin.” And as soon as I would see a new zit pop up, instead of freaking out and obsessing over it, I’d tell myself, “it’ll go away, I have clear skin.” And guess what? That breakout and subsequent breakouts became less angry and didn’t multiply like they usually did. Have I completely cured my breakouts? Unfortunately no, all of the stress and spiked cortisol really did a number on my gut and adrenal system and my skin is still breaking out from that. BUT compared to what my skin was doing, it has significantly improved and the breakouts I do get truly feel less irritated and go away so much faster. When I stopped obsessing and focusing on the acne it significantly decreased. Now getting my adrenal and gut issues in check is a whole other project.
Am I saying you can completely cure your acne just from a powerful mindset change? Not really — but maybe! I think if you believe in something so whole heartedly and focus on it enough anything is possible, but like I mentioned earlier, that could be a positive or a negative thing. With something as complex as acne, it can be multiple things causing it and it could be internal and/or external. If you figure out the actual root cause of your breakouts and reframe your mentality around the health of your skin I think the results can be amazing!
Here are some things I’ve done or told myself to help manifest clearer skin:
- VISUALIZE: this can be a little difficult after staring at yourself in the mirror and obsessing over every little imperfection and letting it burn into your mind, but if you can calm your breathing and clear your mind enough to picture yourself with clear skin and truly believe you have it and you’re capable of keeping it I believe over time it will happen for you. Tip: If you’re having a hard time visualizing it on your own, sometimes having an old picture of yourself at a time when you had clear or clearer skin can help. I’d have a hard time visualizing so I would just think of one particular picture I have when my skin looked amazing.
- MAKE A MANTRA: “I’m so grateful I have clear, beautiful skin.” Or anything along those lines that works for you! This is something I’ll tell myself while I’m washing my face or doing anything with skincare. The trick is, you have to be a little delusional and truly truly believe it while you’re saying it though. This might just take time, you might just have to keep saying it or play with different phrases along those lines until it really starts to become believable to you.
- LIMIT STRESS: this one is hard for me, hello adrenal fatigue and high cortisol! Just try to breathe and trust the process and know that this will pass. Don’t obsess over every little thing. Instead, keep things as simple as you can. If something doesn’t work, remove it. If something does work, keep it. I know it can feel more complicated that this, but try to keep things as simple and stream-lined as possible to avoid extra stress as far as this is concerned.
- GO TO SLEEP THINKING ABOUT CLEAR SKIN: this is something I’ve done forever, since I was a kid I would fall asleep thinking about how I wanted my life to turn out. When I was a kid/teenager I would fall asleep thinking about finding a handsome husband who loved me and having kids and being happy (I know, I know, very aspirational and sappy but I was like 12!). Now, I still go to sleep picturing everything I want from life and amongst a lot of things, picturing clear, acne-free skin is one of those things.
- ENJOY YOUR SKINCARE: This is a page I took from the way the French do beauty, they do their skincare to bring themselves pleasure. Not to scrub away wrinkles or burn bacteria cells with acid, they do it for the simple act of feeling amazing and beautiful. So this is another mindset shift, instead of scrubbing your skin raw to clear your breakouts, slow down. Gently massage your cleanser into your skin as if you were getting a professional facial, let yourself enjoy it instead of stressing about your breakouts. Do the same thing with your moisturizer! Add a mantra in if you need to, but let yourself enjoy your skincare routine again.
Like I said, acne is a really complex thing and just reframing your mindset around it might not cure it. But if you can at least use your mind to promote less breakouts, why wouldn’t you? I’m not a doctor or anything along those lines, but I am a licensed esthetician who’s experienced acne herself and worked with lots of clients who have experienced acne. I’ve seen and felt how acne can just strip you bare mentally and emotionally and if this one piece of information helps just one person I’ll feel good about it.
Good luck on your acne journey and remember: you’re beautiful.
