Reasons to Be Cheerful (at least 3)

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I'm Martha and I'm new to the group and (knowing I have) rosacea. I'll

be posting an intro later, together with lots of questions <collective

groan>, but it did occur to me that realizing I had rosacea wasn't

entirely a bad thing.

1. It gives me a better excuse not to drink. You wouldn't really think

you'd need a reason to not drink if you don't want to, but some people

act like it's a personal affront. I think it's much easier to say,

" no really, it exacerbates my rosacea " than to explain that you just

don't want a drink.

2. Ditto for sports. The downside is that I really do enjoy

weightlifting which also tends to make me very red in the fact, but

the upside is that now I don't feel guilty about sticking to vigorous

walking for exercise.

3. I've always been very shy and tended to blush crimson when

embarrassed (I'll bet I'm not alone here in that), but I feel like

I've gotten less sensitive. Over the winter, I had several experiences

where I was only moderately embarrassed, and yet I turned brilliantly

red. I didn't really understand it; I kept thinking, " why am I having

this strong a reaction to something that's really rather trivial? " I

thought I was having a shyness flareup, but now I realize that it was

my skin. In a way, I found it reassuring to realize that it wasn't my

psyche that was overreacting, just my skin.

4. It's a really good motivator to always wear sunblock, now if I

could just find the one perfect physical block.

5. I can safely chuck my blush makeup.

I'm sure other upsides will occur to me (mixed in with the all too

obvious disadvantages).

Martha

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I'm Martha and I'm new to the group and (knowing I have) rosacea. I'll

be posting an intro later, together with lots of questions <collective

groan>, but it did occur to me that realizing I had rosacea wasn't

entirely a bad thing.

1. It gives me a better excuse not to drink. You wouldn't really think

you'd need a reason to not drink if you don't want to, but some people

act like it's a personal affront. I think it's much easier to say,

" no really, it exacerbates my rosacea " than to explain that you just

don't want a drink.

2. Ditto for sports. The downside is that I really do enjoy

weightlifting which also tends to make me very red in the fact, but

the upside is that now I don't feel guilty about sticking to vigorous

walking for exercise.

3. I've always been very shy and tended to blush crimson when

embarrassed (I'll bet I'm not alone here in that), but I feel like

I've gotten less sensitive. Over the winter, I had several experiences

where I was only moderately embarrassed, and yet I turned brilliantly

red. I didn't really understand it; I kept thinking, " why am I having

this strong a reaction to something that's really rather trivial? " I

thought I was having a shyness flareup, but now I realize that it was

my skin. In a way, I found it reassuring to realize that it wasn't my

psyche that was overreacting, just my skin.

4. It's a really good motivator to always wear sunblock, now if I

could just find the one perfect physical block.

5. I can safely chuck my blush makeup.

I'm sure other upsides will occur to me (mixed in with the all too

obvious disadvantages).

Martha