Thread: Feelings
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Old 12-02-2012, 07:03 PM   #3
Tig
 
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Join Date: Jan 2007

Hey,

You are doing really well, congratulations. It is so very difficult when you give up self harm, from my own personal experience I have certainly found the first few weeks toughest because you are taking away your coping mechanism, probably without another one in place, but whatever was making you self harm in the first place is still there. It does feel like things get worse before they get better but I have hope that they do get better, even though it does take a lot of time.

Could you think of a plan for right now about how you are going to get through these difficult urges? You could make plans for the different emotions you may be experiencing - say if you are feeling angry, instead of self harming, what may be useful? If you were feeling sad, how do you think you could comfort yourself rather than cut? By making up a plan, you have it there for when the urges come and also, it's a good distraction for right now!

You sound very committed to recovery and I think that's a great start for you because if you don't want to recover, then it's not going to happen but I have read your posts recently and you are so full of energy about recovery. I understand though how tiring it gets.

Another idea may be to keep a log of things you find triggering. I think I may have suggested that in a previous post, I'm not sure. That way, you can again look at either prevention - so if you can avoid the trigger, or what you are going to do if you do end up getting triggered.

Something I have found helpful is keeping a diary and ticking off the days that I haven't self harmed. It gives me a great sense of achievement at the end of the day when I can put a little tick next to the date, and I can look back and think 'Wow, that's 5 ticks' etc.
In this diary, you could also write down all the positive things you are doing for your recovery. For example, if you have trouble reaching out you could write something alone the lines of 'Today I felt triggered but I posted on RYL about how I felt to try and gain some advice'.

Take care & keep fighting, you can do it. xx

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