Hiding

Has anyone here ever considered just NOT hiding the picked skin? This is something I roll around and around in my head all the time lately. What if I just wore a skirt (I pick my legs)? I have nice legs, shape-wise, they are just covered in brown patches. Don't get me wrong-- I hate them, and I think they're hideous, but I wonder what they would look like to others, really. Sometimes I will see someone in the street with, for example, a large part of his face covered in a different colored patch. He can't do anything about it. He HAS to go out like that. My thoughts at that point range from being so grateful that my face is ok, hating that I'm so vain, and thinking how brave that person is for just being out there and wearing it proudly. It must take a LOT of courage. Or maybe it doesn't, if this is something someone grew up with. Something they were teased about as kids and got over, just like we all did about whatever it was we were teased for. And I think, maybe someday I can work up to that. Just a little at a time. I tried once, with just the littlest bit of shin showing. I survived, but I was really terribly uncomfortable and anxious. I felt like everyone was staring at me, looking at me to try to figure out what was wrong with me. But I never judge the person with markings on his face. Is that because I'm a picker so I have this other perspective on it? Or are most people this way-- they see the irregularity, the think, "huh," and then they go on with their lives? In my saner moments, I suspect that everyone is so busy thinking about what they hate about themselves, what their boss said to them, or what they are going to have for dinner, that they really aren't devoting much time to react to my skin. I want to try it, I do. I know that no one will say anything to me. And if someone does, I say I have a pigment issue and move the conversation along. I think the hard part will be keeping myself calm. Not letting the shame and the anxiety take over that moment and scare me back into long pants. Does anyone have this kind of experience? Stories to share? Interest in trying it with me? Thanks, everyone. You have no idea how lucky I feel to have found you.