Fascinating Birthmarks Shared By People Online That You Have To See To Believe

I was born with CMN, which, as many of you know, means my body is covered in birthmarks.

As a child, I was bullied and rejected... I've been called by many nicknames. It has never been easy to go any where and feel comfortable because people confronted me with fear, some even laugh at me. Of course, it broke my self-esteem. But one day I prayed and asked God why... and guess what he replied? He told me I was a master piece! After that, I embarked on a journey of forgiveness and self-acceptance... I started talking to different people about how I feel, and I realized that keeping silent and not sharing my feelings was destroying me inside. I learned that talking about something that hurts you actually heals you. So I needed to make my social media a safe place for my mental health, so I unfollowed certain accounts that weren’t healthy for me. Finally, he was treating me with love and respect.

I started showing people who I really was and stopped hiding. My birthmarks are like my weapon to inspire people. We're so unique that we're

Some particularly ask me why I don’t consider using make-up to cover it. It is a very personal choice and I really understand why some decide to use make-up, because yes, it sure can be hard sometimes to literally ’face’ some situations. Yet already years ago I chose not to spent two hours of my morning in front of a mirror putting on a mask of chemical make-up to cover my stain so that 'society' would accept me and I would fit some ‘standard of normalcy’. I did try it, twice, the pancake of make-up, and although I love pancakes, this was a kind I absolutely did not want to try ever again. I didn’t recognize myself at all without my stain, and that was such a weird distorted feeling.
We live in a world where we identify too much with our bodies. I think we judge outside appearance too much and there is a sense of ‘normal’ that just ain’t real.

The type of birthmark is port wine stain, in case you were wondering. Wasn't sure whether to ink the white of the knuckles or not, decided against it. If you look carefully, you can see a little grey spot near the lower cluster-- that's where my sister embedded pencil lead, entirely (entirely) accidentally many years ago. Not the ones in New York, the ones on my hand. These hand drawings (I'm just on a roll today) were very difficult, mostly because my hand was constantly flexing and moving to get a better angle, and when pressure is put on my skin it whitens. Yes, I missed a spot. I was writing in the mirror for a while there, surprised I got as much as I did. My face is free of birthmarks. I suppose I could have blurred it if I thought you'd be unable to identify me from my giant red arm. I wish this picture had been against a backdrop that wasn't full of Michael Crichton books. There's the boot tributary thingamabob, right on top. To the right, there's a little teardrop-- that's a scar from helping with some yard work, a few years back. This is where I reach the limits of what I can pen, myself. Gah, t-shirt tear. I think it makes me look kinda cool, but having it my entire life tends to skew my perception of it.

I have always thought of my birthmark as my barrier against unaccepting people, if someone is going to say something mean about how I look, they are not the kind of people I need in my life, it also says more about them than it does about you. I feel so grateful for how I look now and that the many opportunities it has given me. It has taught me to be myself and the right people will love me for me. No point in hiding yourself from the world! Just be you! Real girls are never perfect and perfect girls are not real. 

"Never stop yourself from being who you want to be because of other people's judgements. I sure wouldn’t be the person I am today if I had “normal” skin."