seen for the first time

my son, age 21, and my daughter, age 23, saw me for the first time EVER with healed skin this weekend !! i didn't wear any makeup at all and my daughter can't remember seeing me without makeup. she couldn't get over how good my skin looks and she said it "glows". and my son said i look real good. that's right, they've never EVER seen me without wounds on my face and i'd worn makeup every day for their whole lives. i'd not seen either of them for a couple of months before feb 24/10, the day i quit picking. i lasted 49 days and then picked only one white head and now i am on day 5 following that so my skin has had a chance to heal up pretty well with only minimal redness here and there and that is still fading. my skin looks as good as it does because although i picked madly all those years and longer, i always bandaged up overnight so the sores could heal as much as they could so makeup could be applied the next day relatively successfully. the bandages kept the sores moist and from forming hard scabs which leave scars behind. i'm so grateful for bandages. and i'm feeling, finally, like the life of being a picker is behind me now, although i realize how easily that could change so i'll always be vigilant. it's wonderful to feel like this, let alone feel my skin looks good. i feel proud to have managed feel free from the demon. i wish this feeling for everyone and feel that it is possible. it is not easy, but it's possible. it takes a very serious devoted commitment to changing behaviours, a researched plan, and a positive loving outlook. i'd had the compulsion to pick for so long, i believed i'd never be without it but because of a serious infection from picking, and getting very frightened as a result, i managed to pull the determination and information together and make the commitment and proved it could be done !! i don't doubt that i will have small setbacks like the one i've had already, but if i do, i will not let it be anything but a small one as i never want to go "back there" again. i will forgive myself, and will get right back to my healthy skin care practices, foods, and supplements and get back to treating my skin respectfully, properly, and lovingly. i was disrespectful, damaging, and too hurtful to myself for much too long. i sincerely hope that, if you are a picker reading this, you will not let the compulsion grip you as long as it gripped me. realize there is no magic bullet for this, but it can be beaten with a serious determination along with tactics that might include a better diet, supplements, medications, better skin care practices, and therapy, etc. just figure out what it is that you need for your situation and tackle it seriously. know that it can be beaten. believe!