Eczema and Dealing With Healing Setbacks

Living with eczema and experiencing setbacks when it comes to the healing process of the skin can be a frustrating experience. Sometimes there will be a period where I'm doing really well and have really good energy and then I give in, indulge, and eat something that is not so great for my skin or experience a stressful event and it feels like I've taken one step forward and two steps back. But I am a stubbornly optimistic person and I refused to ever let this condition take over my life completely.

Out of sight, out of mind

Whenever I go through a healing setback, something that really helps me is just to not obsess over it. It's like, “Out of sight. Out of mind. Out of body.” I strongly believe in the connection of the mind and the body. In my life, this relationship is quite direct as I am an empath and can experience psychosomatic symptoms quite often. So although it seems kind of like tricking myself or being delusional, it actually really helps me not to think about it too much and to carry on with my day as if nothing was wrong with my skin. Often, I find that just keeping my mind clear really does help my skin to clear as well. At the very least I don't continue to scratch myself into an even worse state.

Getting out into nature

Another thing that really helps me is to get out into nature. I'm kind of a big color geek and in Color Theory, green cancels out red. So if I'm dealing with red, hot inflammation then I like to go to green places like parks and reserves where I can just enjoy the sight of green and use it to help calm my mind and my skin. By the end of my walk or time in nature, I do find that my skin has calmed down physically.

Learning life lessons

Philosophically. I find that setbacks are great teachers in whatever life lesson I need to learn at the time. Although setbacks are annoying, they force us to be in the moment, to breathe more intentionally, look at our situations more clearly and see if we need to re-strategize our approaches to life moving forward.

For example, in my life, I'm currently dealing with a lot of technological issues and issues with people I'm currently Airbnbing with during my travels.

Living with others

It is teaching me to not expect people to have this same kind of standard with hygiene that I do and that if I choose to clean up an area, it is for me and my choice and I should not expect any kind of praise for it. Also, in the future, I could ask more about the house rules, standards, and expectations for cleanliness.

Accumulating issues

And with technology, the issues I'm having now have been making their way in my life for a few months and in the future, I should take action to fix them more quickly to avoid them accumulating to a high degree when I need them the most.

What are your thoughts on this? How do you best deal with setbacks? Would love to hear your advice, tips, and suggestions in the comments section below!