I found that talking to one of my friends or being with them was the best imediate method, granted this was with a friend who knew about it. Just going to sleep was a good way to avoid doing anything. Another one of my favorites was drawing a face on my stomach with a nonpermanent marker using my bellybutton as a mouth and then stand infront of a mirror and make it talk. As stupid as it sounds it made me laugh every time. It is also crucial to remove all of the things that you use to hurt yourself, remove temptation.
Whenever the urge came up, I forced myself to stay in a room with other people or with other people's company. This sometimes took effort because you'd want to just run out of the room and fall back ino old habits, but I found if I really pushed myself I could do it. Also realising I could force myself to stay with people when I didn't feel like it reinforced that I could do things I found difficult such as quitting in general :)
"If we wake up tomorrow, then we will know that we are still alive"
i try to distract myself by getting out of the house and jus tryin to have fun, i need to distract my brain alot too...i always try to focus on other things..
When I gave up two of my friends said they'd fight it with me!! It sounds silly...but it feels like we're beating it together. They're fabulous, I can ring them in the middle of the night. One of them literally checks my arm. It sounds a bit... radical and horrible, but its not! She just squeezes my hand when she says hello and gives me a hug and then runs her hand up and down, its really worked. And getting into bed...texting someone who knows and cares is a real relief. Letting myself cry works too, it releases all the stress. But mostly...its being held accountable to the two friends. I would tell them when it was bad, if I did it, and although they were angry it really motivates you!
Last edited by Mimsy : 12-08-2007 at 11:43 PM.
Reason: it didnt make sense
I like to write everything down when I want to self-harm - just write a letter to myself (or someone else) saying all my feelings. Or if I'm angry, even just scribble all over a piece of paper. :)
I have been known to shove my hands in cold water and screw my face up. It kinda works if I am angry or frustrated cos it releases tension.
The other night i shoved tubigrip on my arms so I didnt have to look at them, for some reason it made me even more tempted :S ps, it worked :)
and I love pointless funny things on the net :) like this 'spank the monkey' thing, so wrong yet so right.
L_M_G is my mummy :) inkerman and razorbladedarling are my two non-identical twin sprogs (concieved on same day) Scabette< cos she has the cutest puppy dog eyes and i cant resist!feeling-afraid< my bottle of glitter!! which i just have to have :Pmidnight stars< my gorgeous sister, whom i love to bits ;) Dance With The Fairy< *star*gazing*buddie :] Broken-Fairy is my partner in crime ;) little_miss is my real life saviour PaperClip is my stationary queen
The thing that has helped me stay free the most was getting rid of whatever it was that I was using to harm myself. I'm lazy so by making it inconvient to harm myself I've been able to overcome it. I also agree with the calling/texting a friend, that's what I used to do when I first decided to stop.
going to bed is a good one.. jus curling up and crying
also... coming on here and reading threads like this!
Maybe reward yourself when you get to a certain length of time .. eg after a month buy something you really want, like a little present to yourself such as a tattoo (well that would be mine!) or some shoes, or something!
Go out and beat myself up on my bike, or just go training. Swimming is always nice. I have the problem that I need the acid burn before I really calm down, so its one of the reasons I almost never sit down unless I have absolutly no other choice.
Jestem co Jestem
I am what I am.
If something jams, force it, if it breaks, well it needed fixing anyway lol.
Everything good in life is either illegal, immoral or fattening.
Three things:
1. Write. Write a letter to me, to my friends, or just write a blog [but i don't post it.]
2. This only works sometimes, but i take out my tools and look at them and it really makes me think hard about it. and scares me. But this could be triggering*
3. I rub my Vitamin E oil onto my scars. It reminds me of how much i want to wear a swimsuit again and not freakout about wearing short shorts.
Here are the things that work for me (and perhaps can work for you, too):
- singing: sing till you feel exhausted (and happy)
- cream your arms: you focus on your arms (or the part of your body that you want to cut/ hurt) and it isn´t destructive
- silly internet games and videos (don´t search for SI- videos)
- take your favourite stuffed aninmal, sit on a blanket, speak to your stuffed animal and watch your favourite movie from your childhood or listen to your children cassettes (but it sometimes makes me even more sad, so take care)
- take a bit of ice and press it to your arm and wait till it melts
I can't control my destiny.
I trust my soul. My only goal is just to be. (Rent)
I'm selfish, inpatient and a little insecure.
I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle but if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best. (Marilyn Monroe)
Dancing
Knitting
Planning something (an outing or something)
Talking with friends (either ones who know and can help, or ones that dont and can distract)
Cleaning
Playing dress up
Video/computer games
Doing something i know im good at
~He accepts that ambiguity and compromise are a part of life, but he doesn’t necessarily like it. It’s not his way to dwell in gray areas, not to try and resolve complex situations. And yet, if he’s really honest with himself, this time he doesn’t care. He surrenders to what he wants, not what he must. ~
there there is a very funny video of a drunk squirrel on youtube. Apparently it had been eating some fermented pumpkin, and got drunk in the process...
Jestem co Jestem
I am what I am.
If something jams, force it, if it breaks, well it needed fixing anyway lol.
Everything good in life is either illegal, immoral or fattening.
well wut i do is remember
"i am alone" and i say to myself" remember how logn u hav gone wihtout tht dum razor how proud u felt well u dotn havta stop feeling it just put teh razor down and read a book"
read a book go on teh internet and wen im sad beyond beleif i vent i just start a new document and write my herat out when im dun i delete it
I found that it wasn't until i'd found a dam good reason inside my self to quit that i even thought about it properly. For me it was the fact that i was grieving for my baby, but then one day i realised that i was in no fit state to be a mother, and i had to pull myself together and make myself in to a mother my little girl could have been proud of. I then got in touch with our local plastic surgery unit, and they wont operate until you've been clean for two years, so i had a goal for my baby and a goal for myself.
One thing that i found recently that worked for me is putting on a support bandage or an actual bandage (i did this b/cos i actually did strain my wrist) and b/cos it has tension it takes the edge off the need to cut. And it also created the impression that i had harmed and dressed it.
Slicing into a banana feels like c*tting skin *but may trigger*
15 minute game.. I'll do it in 15 minutes, then another.. till the urge is gone.
If you like screaming type music, scream along to your fav song, maybe into a pillow so no one rushes to see if something is wrong. [ like one of my favs to do this with is Tears Don't Fall by Bullet For My Valentine._
Also if you can't bare to throw your tools away, just get away from them. The further away you are, the more effort needed to reach them, or getting away from tools might put you in a postion where you feel you can't
Last edited by TheSuffererComplex : 05-08-2007 at 06:27 AM.
Reason: 2 add stuff