Document Your Journey

When you feel like your skin is not getting better and you aren't getting ahead, take a picture of your skin. From time to time, when I think my skin isn't improving, I look back at the picture and realize the changes it has been through.

Taking pictures of your skin

By taking pictures of your progress, you can see that your skin is actually working hard to heal. Sometimes I feel like I don't give my skin enough credit for all it does to heal. The skin is working 10x harder than normal skin would have to.

It's not always easy to look back

I know it can be hard to look back and bring back bad memories to look at those pictures. I say this from experience because I have had times when I break down looking at how "bad" my skin was at the time. Yet, during those times, I was still optimistic and would tell myself my skin would heal one day.

Don't fixate on the past

Post-traumatic stress disorder is real and can affect us, warriors, a lot. That is one of the reasons why I look back to the past but don't fixate on it. I'd done this to myself a lot in the past. I would replay memories about my skin and how severe it had gotten to the point I would freak out. In the present, I am working on coping skills when looking back at the horrid past of struggling with chronic eczema.

Journaling your eczema experience

Another documentation form I tried is to journal about how my skin was doing and how I was feeling at the time. I would only do this from time to time. Yet, I haven't been consistent enough with this. When I read how I was feeling during that time, I saw how strong I could become. I recently read a page in my journal and how I was always suffering with facial eczema and weeping. Now I can say I still have redness and inflamed skin. Although, I am not struggling with the weeping part at all. That is something I was grateful for when reading about my past struggles.

A private or public space

While journaling, I can write everything that I am feeling in the moment. No one can see my feelings/thoughts. In the past, I would write long posts on my Instagram page. That page is specifically tailored towards eczema and my healing journey. It allowed people to see my story and the struggles I was going through. I know it would help out a lot of people who were just starting out on their journey.

Are there benefits to public sharing?

By sharing my story publicly, I was able to document my progress, and others were able to go on this journey with me as well. I would get messages asking for skin advice and warriors venting about the struggles. I hope to go back to this soon and document the daily struggles I continue to have with eczema/TSW.

Our skin has been through a lot

This skin condition brings out the best of me. I've come to realize that I have been through so much with my skin condition. Every time, I have risen up to tackle the obstacles. Sometimes we have obstacles placed in front of us, not knowing how we will overcome them. Yet, we end up making the best out of a bad situation.

Keep fighting skin warriors!

Have you tried to document your eczema/TSW journey? If so, what kind of forms of documentation have you been using?