Defiance!

Hey all! This is my first post here, I have been suffering from mild to severe outbreaks for the last 8 years, I am 23 now and it has caused me some pretty major confidence issues and at times has made me pretty depressed. My usual approach has been to hide away until it all clears, picking my life back up piece by piece and starting again every time. A few weeks ago I had my worst outbreak yet, on my palms, my soles, all over my hands and even some on my face, almost ended up crawling away into my hole again, but not this time! It was my friends birthday party on friday and I really wanted to go, but had reservations due to my skin. My biggest fear is someone pointing it out in front of everyone and me just freezing up. This time, I just thought to myself, if anyone is 'grossed out' or made uncomfortable by my my skin then they are unworthy of my company. So I went to the party, defiant against my P and what people might think. But then, shock horror, in front of the whole party disaster struck. One of the guys at the party said "wow your skin looks horrible,should you really be here?" The whole room went silent instantly and the attention was all on me. This has always been my worst fear, but, instead of freezing up, I kept my cool. I explained to everyone that it wasn't contagious and that its just a skin disorder that with the right treatment will clear in about a month. I then proceded to make a joke about how I was going to sneak up on everyone and creep them out with my flaky hands, everyone found this hilarious and it broke the tension, the guy who rudely brought it up was more embarrassed than I was! After this a few people approached me and said how well I handled it and wanted to find out more about it, which was really nice. After this I actually felt more confident than I usually do without all the scales on my hands. A few days later and my skin seems to be clearing faster than usual and I'm sure its because of how much more relaxed I feel about it now. I just really wanted to share this story with you guys, I fully understand the social implications we all have to deal with, its probably one of the worst parts of this thing. Despite this, the simple act of explaining my situation to people and making a joke to diffuse any awkwardness made it so so so much better. If there is anyone out there in my situation, feeling like you have to hide away and cover up, don't put your life on hold! You're just making it worse! We are all beautiful people who just suffer with this skin thing from time to time and from reading your posts I can tell it would be crying shame if I thought you were all removing yourselves from the world. Go out there and be awesome guys Peace James