That was another incredibly healing step for me, because I knew there was a little girl inside of me that just so desperately wanted to be seen fully and be loved — all of her, not just, you know, what society would deem the typical pretty parts.
因此，这样做真是令人难以置信的康复，我有很多来自世界各地的人伸出援手并开始分享他们的旅程。我不知所措。我根本没想到。我仍然对此感到非常激动，因为这对我来说是一个非常脆弱的事情。但是，让世界各地的其他人都变得脆弱并分享自己的照片，甚至 - 您知道，这真是一件美丽，美丽的事物。
Growing Up With Psoriasis Took a Toll on Rimes’ Mental Health
EH: How did it affect you when you were younger to feel like you had to hide your psoriasis?
LR:I’ve talked about mental health a lot, too, because I’ve struggled off and on withdepression and anxiety, and I think psoriasis was a huge part of that piece, as far as my mental health and feeling very isolated, feeling like not all of me was welcome to the party of life. Having to hide my skin and my body, ever since I was a little girl, I mean, that really does — some of it consciously, but a lot of it unconsciously — put a damper on life.
我经历了大专业的治疗方法，这是非常局限和痛苦的。我一直在舞台上bleeding underneath my clothing. It does a lot to your mental health.
我think those photos, for me, were such a huge reveal of this piece that I had been kind of shoving down for 37 years. It definitely was a struggle. And I know I’m not alone in that. I know a lot of people feel that way.
And even though we’re talking about psoriasis now, it’s a topic that we discuss these days, it hasn’t been that way for a long time. So people can still have the misconception of “It’s contagious,” and, you know, all of the things.
EH: When you felt the pressure to hide and you were feeling isolated, do you think that was coming more from outside pressure, or from someplace inside yourself?
LR:Both. [Laughs.] As a quote-unquote “celebrity” in this world, and as a woman, there is a high expectation of the image that I’m supposed to uphold. And I think that there were external pressures. And my parents, especially my mother — meaning well and wanting to protect her daughter from the outside world — always made sure that I was hidden. So there’s also, with the best of intentions, this kind of programming starting very young, of like, “You have to hide this piece of you. It’s not welcome,” which, obviously, I just internalized all of that myself.
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And there’s this wonderful voice that I like to call “Tubby.” I named him Tubby. [Laughs.] He’s very judgmental and very loud sometimes. And that was my own self-judgment, obviously, trying to protect myself. And I think a lot of us do this, because God knows if we can judge ourselves first, then the outside world, whatever everybody else says, doesn’t hurt as much.
EH: Did it help to separate out a name, “Tubby”? So that it’s not you being mean to yourself, it’s Tubby, and you can just tell Tubby you’re not listening to him today?
LR:Exactly. Yes, it was very helpful to recognize that that wasn’t me. Someone said something the other day that I really thought was so powerful: “There’s anger here, but I’m not angry. There’s sadness here, but I’m not sad. There’s judgment here, but I’m not the one doing the judging.” It’s Tubby.
Community Support Is Super Important, Rimes Says
EH：您是否找到了其他方法或技巧，对于处理耀斑时，对处理那种负面自我交谈确实很有帮助？
LR:Connection. I mean, connection is a huge, huge piece. And being able to verbalize my own internal experience to those who I know love me and will listen. Having a great support system around you. For me, that’s my husband and my very, very close friends. For others who don’t have that, to find that kind of community is super important. To find people who really understand.
Even for me, even though my husband and people that are close to me are there for me, they still don’t quite understand what it’s like. For me, connecting with Cyndi Lauper recently was such a cool piece, because I’ve never really talked to other celebrities or other performers that have been through the same kind of situation that I’ve been through.
And so to be on thePsO in the Knowpodcast, and connect with her and get to talk about our stories, for me, that was just another level of validation: talking with someone that’s really been there through all the same experiences and hearing, “Yeah, this is real. All the things you go through are real.”
EH：朋友和家人可以做些什么来支持牛皮癣的人，尤其是在耀斑期间？
LR:我认为最大的作品之一就是验证他们的痛苦和经历。认识到他们正在经历的事情，亲人可能不完全理解。但是要在那里并有一个人听 - 不要解决。[笑。]有时候，没有什么可以做的。
Another piece is, treat us like it’s just another day. My husband has been so fantastic in that way. Last year was the first time that he had ever seen me with psoriasis on my body, and we’ve been married for almost 11 years. I had talked about it, he’s known about it, he’s seen photos of me with it, but he had never experienced it. So for me to have him truly see me, even with it on me — for me, I get caught up in my head, and that’s all I see. And he’s like, “I don’t see it. I don’t see what you’re seeing.”
I never really understood that until I took the photos that I did. And when I looked at those photos, I saw past what was there on my skin. And I think it was the first time that it kind of clicked for me, like, “Oh, I understand what he’s saying.”
因此，当您周围的人对待您一样，无论您是否有耀斑，这真是太好了。当一切似乎都……痛苦时，这可以帮助将快乐重新带回到您的生活中。拥有周围的人会让您想起您真正的本质，以及您的真实身份真是太好了。
Communication and Self-Advocacy Can Change Everything
EH: When you had that big flare for the first time in your marriage, did you feel like it took away from your desire to want to be intimate with your husband or just feeling desirable? If so, how did you deal with that?
LR:绝对的。再一次,沟通是关键。我think that’s one of the best tricks that I’ve ever learned, is to be able to communicate. Like, “Hey, this is my experience. This is what I’m going through. These are the stories I’m creating.” Like I said, to have someone in my corner — who’s my partner, who treats me and my body and my everything as if that wasn’t the case, that my psoriasis wasn’t there — is a beautiful thing to have.
But it really does take away some of your zest and joy for life. Because it’s like, for me, at least, I felt so abnormal — but what’s normal? [Laughs.] What’s normal? This is my normal; my skin is highly sensitive, and it’s just a piece of me. So the more that we can have that self-acceptance and self-compassion, that brings the joy back into our experience and our ability to connect more intimately with those that we love.
EH: Why is it important for people with psoriasis to practice self-love and self-advocacy?
LR:因为归根结底，您就拥有了。显然，如果我们在生活中如此幸运的话，让我们周围的所有这些人都爱我们真是太好了。但是归根结底，我们是我们自己的最佳倡导者，教育自己，找到正确的护理。
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So many different things work for different people. What works for me might not work for someone else. I like to think of myself as kind of like the science experiment and the scientists at the same time. [Laughs.] Throughout life — when it comes to mental health, physical health, skin health — really be curious. Curiosity is such a beautiful tool when it comes to finding what works for us. We are always our own best advocate and we know what’s best for us. Listening to our bodies, listening to our intuition is super, super important.
当涉及到自爱的作品时，表明我们喜欢为自己带来判断的所有部分的自我同情。抓住自己的判断力，当Tubby喜欢变得非常大声并运用自我同情时，就会抓住自己。你知道，我的一位伟大的老师总是说：“生活的游戏是一个爱情游戏；这将爱心应用于痛苦。”将爱应用于痛苦存在的地方是唯一的方法。
这些听起来像是真正的想法，但是对我来说，至少我能够在我的生活中越来越多地应用这些想法，而男孩，生活会变得更加快乐和甜蜜。
Rimes通过抽出时间为自己打击压力，并养成耀斑
EH: Stress can be a huge trigger for people with psoriasis. Is that true for you? And if so, what are some concrete things that you do to decrease your stress level?
LR:Yes, stress is huge. I grew up in a pretty stressful environment as a child. And obviously having psoriasis from such a young age was incredibly stressful. And then being on the road and in the public eye my whole life, stress has been a part of my life. [Laughs.] And it’s that way for everyone. There’s no way of getting around it. Obviously, this pandemic has caused another whole level and layer of stress.
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所以真的花时间为自己。这对我来说是一个巨大的关键，认识到我无法伸展自己。我不能一次做5000万件事，也不能为此道歉。“不”是您可以找到的最好的词。并坚持下去。一旦我们对拒绝，就像您说的那样，提倡自己，那是一个非常重要的事情。
Also meditation has been a huge thing for me, which I’ve been a major advocate for for many years. Walking, nature, being out in nature. I think we’ve all been cooped up a lot, so we’ve all recognized the importance of fresh air, something so simple that we all took for granted. To be able to be out and connect with nature is a huge one for me.
Obviously feeding ourselves properly, maintaining and trying to bring down the level of inflammation in the body. Lots of water, that’s a huge one for me, keeping hydrated. I know these are all super simple things that we think like, “Oh, yeah,” but most of us don’t do it often. It’s the simplicity of life that we take for granted and forget to do.
EH: Do you follow any kind of anti-psoriasis diet?
LR:我不。我爱一个均衡的饮食. I’m not a big谷蛋白person, so I try to keep away from it, just because I don’t feel like it makes me feel that great. But I don’t really follow a specific diet. I’ve tried things in the past and — I do like food. [Laughs.] I like food, I enjoy food, so I try to just keep it as balanced as possible.
