Advice to not SH when u're feeling down

[AbbyCarson]

Hey, so I'm new on here cuz it's been really tough on me to accept this whole thing but that's not my point, does anyone have advice for when you're feeling really down and the irrational thoughts and the need to SH comes in?
Thanks in advance<3

[Koala hugs]

I try to put it off like I will tell myself to just get thru the next ten mins n I go n smoke a ciggy to try n calm down then when the ten mins is up I ask myself to go another five or ten I also have a very trusted friend who I can tell if I'm getting urges n she will try to calm me down find out what's going on and that helps enormously if u can mayb text a helpline when u get urges that might help I've done that when I need to. Sorry I'm not more help

[Koala hugs]

Also most of the time u won't get a reply at night on here as its less active than it was I didn't want for this to b the place u rely on at night for the simple reason ur unlikely to get a response till morning. Also welcome to ryl I hope you find what u need here n that this place helps

[one_step_closer]

Welcome to RYL. I'm sorry you're having a hard time. What sort of things go through your head when you feel like self harming? What sort of emotions do you feel? There are lots of other ways to deal with specific emotions if you can identify them. What does self harm do for you? There might be other ways to get some of those things without causing yourself harm. Sometimes it helps me to write on my arms, words that describe how I'm feeling etc and then bandage over them. It's great that you're trying not to self harm, I hope you can find ways that work for you.

[AbbyCarson]

Thanks for taking the time to answer, I have been kinda struggling with this situation for 5 years now and I am completely lost because I tried a lot of things but nothing seemed to replace it, I can't really describe how it makes me feel or anything, I just automatically go back to it.

[one_step_closer]

It can become like a habit if you continue to turn to it for so long. Is there a point before you self harm where you might be able to stop and think to yourself 'I'm not going to do this, I'm trying to stop so I will do something else.'? Postponing self harm like Koala hugs said is a good idea.