I hope this doesn't sound silly but sometimes reading the stories and posts on the Moving Forward board helps me because it makes me smile to see how far people have come and read about their achievements :) It keeps me inspired.
Put a thin layer of PVA glue on your arm and once it's dry peel bits off. It gives me something to do with my hands and is really cool.
At school my teachers once asked me to write down what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy'. They told me I didn't understand the task, I told them they didn't understand life.
I have this motivational "happy book", which is a lot like a scrapbook.
I have a list of "Reasons why my life is awesome" (eg my friends love me, i am a strong person, we (my friends and I) make an amazing day out of just hanging out in the park), a list of "Things I like about me" (eg. I have fun in the simplest of circumstances, I'm not a clone - I am original, I am very loving) and a "happy list of happy things" (eg. coffee warming up my fingertips, baking, group singing).
In there is also a bunch of inspiration quotes with cute/inspirational photographs. I have a photo of me taken by myself when I was about 7, smiling like a fool into the camera with the caption "I am HAPPY!" I have pictures of sunrise, rainbows, and other things which I think are pretty. www.deviantart.com is a great place for finding pictures like this, and most people will be really pleased if you told them you explain you're using your work in your book, and if you explain the concept.
I have pictures of me with friends, and photos of just my friends - all of them happy. My best friend wrote a page of "Anna to me!" filled with memories and quotes we say a lot.
It makes me feel a lot better to read it when I'm upset, and writing in it/cutting things out to stick in calms me down and keeps my hands busy.
I know that was a long post for just one thing, but it's got quite a lot of ideas in it and my Happy Book is very dear to me :D
Life is about love, last minutes and lost evenings,
About fire in our bellies and furtive little feelings,
And the aching amplitudes that set our needles all a-flickering,
And help us with remembering that the only thing that's left to do is live.
Put a thin layer of PVA glue on your arm and once it's dry peel bits off. It gives me something to do with my hands and is really cool.
very good idea :)
i suggest staying away from alcohol, drugs and anything mood altering like caffeine.. it just makes everything worse.. make sure you live a healthy lifestyle.. i say this as the higher up the rung you are looking after yourself, the easier it is to deal with all the pits and bumps along the way.. i always say time and time again to take vitamin b complex and c supplements to people, as they help combat stress, anxiety and depression.. sleep well, drink lots of water, dont be afraid to get the deep cuts treated and physically look after yourself.. dance or do something vigorous for 20+ minutes a day to work off extra adrenaline.. if you do this for 2 months straight, your body will adjust, it will make things easier, particularly during recovery..
I'm almost 3 years SH free, although I still have a few ups and downs (RYL has been a real help this week in keeping me away from it).
When I was first starting to recover, before I could learn to cope without doing anything I used to go down to the haberdashery (Hickeys or any other shop that sells fabric) once a week and buy big lengths of plain white cotton. Then whenever I felt the urge really strongly I used to take a bit and rip it into strips, one by one by hand. It's expressing the anger and letting out the urge, but not on yor own body. It's not a long term solution but for starting out it really helped me. Hopefully it will help anyone else who's just starting out and looking for a release; it's much better to hurt the cotton than to hurt yourself!
Good luck to everyone in recovery: it is definitely possible and there are many different ways to find it, you just need to find the way that suits you best!
This has probably already been said and is a bit stupid but just going to sleep is one of the best distractions I think.
If I'm upset I will curl up and sometimes cry myself to sleep, but it does help. (Shh don't tell people I cry though, I'm too big for that. :)
Sleeping, making bracelets
Having someone to keep you motivated, telling you you can get through it, and telling you theyre proud when you make it a week, and then 2, etc
if you think you know me in real life, no you don't.
I'm almost 3 years SH free, although I still have a few ups and downs (RYL has been a real help this week in keeping me away from it).
When I was first starting to recover, before I could learn to cope without doing anything I used to go down to the haberdashery (Hickeys or any other shop that sells fabric) once a week and buy big lengths of plain white cotton. Then whenever I felt the urge really strongly I used to take a bit and rip it into strips, one by one by hand. It's expressing the anger and letting out the urge, but not on yor own body. It's not a long term solution but for starting out it really helped me. Hopefully it will help anyone else who's just starting out and looking for a release; it's much better to hurt the cotton than to hurt yourself!
Good luck to everyone in recovery: it is definitely possible and there are many different ways to find it, you just need to find the way that suits you best!
You're so pretty!
Just remember that everytime you overcome an urge you have moved one step closer to living free life you want to live.
I play with the cat or have cuddles with the dogs. Affectionate aniomals tend to help me.
Also, I write down exactly what I am feeling, why and what I want to do, and then I burn it in the backyard.
It means for me that the feelings that were inside of me, are out, and they have been totally destroyed. I find it really theraputic, Someone even cleared out the outside sink so I could do it without burning down the house. =]
Just be careful not to burn yourself!!
From Nymph to Dragonfly, I know my place.
Call me Bee. =) Like it or Lump it.
‘Cause the passion and pain are gonna keep you alive someday
I didn't read the whole thread, so I'm sure some of these are repeats, but here's what I do.
First off, I don't count days. I know it helps some people, but for me it's better to be out of the mindset completely and I find if I'm counting days I'm still focused on it to some extent and it's easier for me to get back into 'this'll help' thinking.
Also, I paint a lot when I'm upset/wanting to sh. I'm one of those people who's art is all emo kid and depressing because it helps. I look back at my paintings/drawings etc and they make me happy and inspire me regardless of how dark they look, because they helped me at the time. I just put on some awesome pop/punk music (also thats like the only time I listen to pop) or a sermon and get lost in painting for a couple hours. Then I realize how long its been and I'm ok again.
Video games also help, as does stream of consciousness writing/typing. Basically anything to get my thoughts not necessarily off whats urging me, but onto something else.
I've also been known to disappear for hours and end up in other states/half way across South Dakota... My car can go about 300 miles on one tank of gas highway, and I've driven until I ran out of gas more than once. All I need is a highway, good music, and a pack of cigarettes.
Then there is always talking to people. I only have a couple people who I trust enough to talk to about my sh. A lot know about it, but most I can't actually have a real conversation about it with. But the few I can talk to usually come through for me. My best friends have driven thirty minutes just to walk the streets of my town for hours and talk to me when I needed them.
I've been dealing with this for five years now and I've learned a lot of ways that don't work and a lot that do. I'm pretty good now. I still do sometimes, and like I said, I don't count days, but I'm not a cutter anymore. I just suggest that you try a lot of things until you find a few that work, and stick to them.
Well, I'm not quite free.. but theres this blogger on youtube who suggested that you get a doll, and you treat it like yourself. Mine is named Ingrid =p she has all the same scars as me, and sometimes I find hugging her is just what I need to remind me that I am worth trying for. Like I deserve to be free. I can't sleep without her now actually. =p But don't tell anyone else that.
The best thing I've ever done: enrolling in a swimming class at school. 5 days a week, I have to wear a bathing suit, and that means no self-harming.
It's tough to wear a bathing suit, because I'm not proud of my scars in the slightest, but I hope to get over that some day; this is my first step toward that.
When life closes one door to happiness on us, it opens another. Most of us spend too much time staring at the one closed to see new one opened.
Well, I'm not quite free.. but theres this blogger on youtube who suggested that you get a doll, and you treat it like yourself. Mine is named Ingrid =p she has all the same scars as me, and sometimes I find hugging her is just what I need to remind me that I am worth trying for. Like I deserve to be free. I can't sleep without her now actually. =p But don't tell anyone else that.
It may sound silly, but I've found that playing the Sims is a total distraction....If I'm angry or upset I can act out my feelings through my Sim instead....:P
It may sound silly, but I've found that playing the Sims is a total distraction....If I'm angry or upset I can act out my feelings through my Sim instead....:P
I used to make people on the SIMs I hated.. then burn them (:
