Everyone is embarrassed about their body in some way or another; birthmarks, weight, freckles, we all have something--I have pimples. Acne is another one of the somewhat obvious and humiliating parts of puberty, although studies show that 85% of teenagers get it. So why are we so embarrassed? Who knows, cause I sure don’t, and I definitely don't think I will ever be not embarrassed by it. All I know is that it shows up on our faces, and that its hard as hell to hide and get rid of. But yet we still worry about it, and try and avoid it like we would an annoying freshman.

Walking down the halls of an ordinary high school, you would see ordinary students during their ordinary day. Unless you really look. If you can really see what is going on, you see a mixture of different people with their own struggles and lives. Id like to call myself a people watcher, I can be very observant. I will notice if someone who passes me in the hallway has acne or not. It’s not very hard to tell, red blotchy dots that are half covered in makeup and are a completely different color than the rest of the skin around it. It’s the unmistakable sign of a breakout. Seeing as though this happens to me quite often, I dont judge. I’m understanding in a sense that it happens to me every other week and I am used to it. I understand being scared of people looking at you and just thinking the worst possible things. You start to think of things that must be going through their heads, and its not fun, and it can make you feel like a living, breathing, ugly machine.

Acne can be different in different types of people, some get small little dots, some get big honkers, and some don't get any at all. Those are the lucky ones, because even having one can stress me out to the max. Which in turn just gives me more, its a never ending cycle for me. And it puts a real strain on my self-esteem. I’ve been getting pimples on my face since fifth grade, I took it as a sign that I was growing up, and I was excited about it too. Then soon everyone started getting them, and mine got worse. I started to get self-conscious about it, which in turn made me stress and get more. Soon I got so upset, I begged my mom for makeup, I started wearing concealer and foundation. Funny thing is that the makeup made it worse. Now I can't even go outside with makeup on, acne has made me so afraid of my image.

Trying to get rid of acne is just another annoying, stressful thing about growing up. Luckily I was born female, giving me the advantage of being able to wear makeup, unlike boys where it really isn't socially acceptable. Foundation, powders, concealer could hide my acne, but they certainly didn't get rid of it. In fact, they clogged my pores and made it worse. So I started using different kinds of acne treatments to make them go away. I swear I tried a gazillion different face washes and overnight solutions to try and help, and soon they became my best friends. Although as I got older, the less they helped and the more they started to make my acne worse, some made my skin too dry, others made it too oily. I came to the conclusion that there was no happy medium, although if I actually took the time to wash off my makeup after school, I’m sure the numbers would dwindle, it just takes too much time.

Even after all of this time, I still care about getting pimples, although I really shouldn't. We are teenagers, we aren’t perfect, in fact we are most likely the farthest thing from it. We are growing and changing, physically and mentally, and we shouldn't be worried about something like acne, but we are. We are all nervous, self-conscious people inside, worrying about our appearances and looks. Growing older has made me realize that we shouldn't really judge others or ourselves for getting acne, we pimple people have to stick together! We shouldn't worry about things that we can't help, we just look around and remember there are others like us.

Being a teenager can be the most awkward and interesting time of your life, it takes a lot to go from a child to an adult. It isn't easy or fun, its probably the hardest thing you'll go through, but here's what we need to remember. Everyone goes through it, we aren't alone in this world, and we aren’t the only ones with pimple problems. We just need to hold on tight and make it through this bumpy ride into adulthood.