Breakouts and the bigger picture.

I woke up this morning with a monstrous pimple in the middle of my face.

I’ve never had the type of skin that could be compared to a teenager’s—not even when I was a teenager. But this is the kind of blemish you’d be banished for back in high school. At 33, I’m well beyond any embarrassment similarly suffered those four years, and I also have much better makeup.

At any rate, what does my zit have to do with detox? Simple: it’s a sign!

These physical signs manifest in many ways, and most of the time, go ignored. For me, it’s a dull headache after a draining discussion with my dad, sleepiness from scarfing down several cupcakes, shoulder pain from a shouting match with my man, or sensitive skin from a stressful holiday season. Personally, I support that all somatic symptoms are a result of a more pronounced emotional, psychological, or spiritual “problem.” Even pimples.

I’ve become a bit of an expert on traditional body detoxification, not only because I dated a holistic healer at one point, but because I’ve faced a variety ailments that forced me to look everywhere for answers—which were always found within.

Detoxing, in my opinion, is a daily practice.

It’s taking in all the stresses and situations of the day, seeing the symptoms, and releasing what is not a part of your life’s primary path. Phew.

This isn’t actually the first time I’ve suffered a skin condition in my 30s. I woke up Easter day in ‘06 with red, itchy skin mysteriously masking my face. For the next year and a half, I only left the house when I had to. I altered my diet, did a vitamin c drip, stopped birth control pills, cringed during a colonic, cleared my soul, master cleansed countless times, cried into my pillow, popped supplements, balanced chakras, and everything in between.

But the best body detox back then was breaking up with a boyfriend who was bad for me—the painful symptoms suddenly ceased. Like magic, the “mask” was gone.

My detox “program” not only for the month, but for my lifetime, is a holistic one. While I’m resolved to drink a ton more water, shrink sugar intake, and steer clear of carbs, I am more importantly balancing the emotions and bad energies that bring about blemishes.