"OMG, what is on your arms?!"

Growing up a dancer, I spent many hours of my childhood wearing a leotard and tights in front of a mirror. And while dance formed many foundational pillars in my life, like discipline and grace, it also showed me the unfortunate and unrealistic expectations placed on young girls and teens today.

I remember being around 8. I went to grab my ballet shoes out of my cubby and change for class when one of the girls came up to me and, without thought, said, “OMG, what’s on your arms?”

Thinking maybe I had broken out in a rash or a bug had landed on me, I quickly darted my eyes up and down my arms. After a moment of confusion, I replied, “What do you mean?”

She bluntly scoffed, “I mean the weird red bumps all on your arms.”

That night, I fought tears through pirouettes and grand jetés, and later I went home to ask my mom if something was wrong with my arms since I had never noticed anything. To me, my arms were just my arms.

That moment marked a shift in my mindset. Instead of embracing my keratosis pilaris that spread up and down my arms and legs, I learned to feel ashamed and embarrassed.

I wore a long-sleeve leotard the rest of the season.

But my struggles with my skin and self-image didn’t stop there. In middle school, when I started to break out and pimples began to loiter on my face, instead of choosing to be patient with myself, I reverted to my 8-year-old locker room mindset of shame and embarrassment.

I smeared my face with makeup and avoided birthday parties and friend hangouts when my skin was especially bad. But in high school, after talking to a friend about how difficult it was to struggle with acne as a teenager, I realized that my shame was useless. Why should I feel embarrassed about something that makes me, me?

Since that moment, I’ve started to view my imperfect skin as a gift—something that can help me bond with peers and grow a community of teens just like me who are struggling to find their self-confidence and grow their self-love. If you're reading this and have ever felt ashamed of your skin because of something someone said to you, I hope you can shift your perspective and know that you aren't alone.

Maybe your story can become someone else's reminder that they don't have to be ashamed either. With love, Brenna