Do you regret ever starting..?
 

I dont regret Self-harming at all, and thought mayybe its a bit weird cos of all the mess i get in.. but does anyone else not regret it... or yes?

Honestly? I don't... I can't even, like, wish it never happened. It just kind of did, so I deal with it. Can't say if that's a good thing or not, though. ^^;

I said other because sometimes I do just because of the scars, but I don't because if I hadn't then I wouldn't be here and wouldn't have found some of the greatest friends ever.

Nic
xxx

No.

That might sound really stupid, but a lot of good things have come from doing so. Without SIing, I probably just would have exploded...or used drugs or some other destructive alternative. And a part of me still thinks that I deserved all that pain.

I found RYL, met a HUGE load of fantastic people. RYL not only introduced me to new people, but I've learnt a lot of things about myself, others, mental illness...just, craploads the past 3 years. And I've grown as RYL has.

I like my scars. They tell a story. I have days where I get awkward about them, a fear of people questioning them, and yeah I have my days where I regret them or regret wearing a t-shirt because someone might question the scars... But **** happens.

Over all...a lot of good has come from self-harming.

i dont regret starting but i do regret how out of hand i let it get~!!!~

I said no for similar[ish] reasons I guess. In the end it's made me the person I am today whatever, and at the moment i'm content with that. It's made me more understanding/less quick to judge etc, or at least it's opened my eyes more than they were. I duno. I've also met some of my best friends from here and other sites just through the connection of that when it's a secret to everyone in the "real world" but you can talk just about anything with them.
It also back in the day made me closer friends with a couple of people, just because they reassured me they were there.
Basically no. Mhhm.x

No, I don't think so. It helped me and I wouldn't be the person I am today without it. Going through recovery has made me discover so many things about myself and I've learned a lot from things just connected to SI. Its part of me, and I can't regret it, no.

No, if I hadn't started I wouldn't be who I am today, I have a lot more understanding of what people go through and I never ever judge anyone before I know them now. Also some of my best friends are from here and if I hadn't started I wouldn't have met them. So yeah I don't have any regrets, it's made me who I am

I try not to regret anything, life is too short to be dwelling on what you shouldn't have done. Instead you should look to what you can do in the future and how you can change things for the better.

On the other side of the coin, I think that if I'd never started maybe life would be a bit easier and I know I wouldn't have to cover up as much as I do now.
Then again I might have just killed myself.

So no, no regrets, but maybe things would have been better if I didn't.

I dont regret ever starting at all. If i never would have started then I most likely wouldn't understand why someone I know would do that. I probably understand how she feels since I do the same thing. Also since me and my friend both do it we grew closer and more trustworthy towards eachother so in a way i'm glad I started.

Other. I regret that this isn't something I want to be doing for my entire life and that I can't stop. I regret the burden I feel like it puts on people who know, I regret that I have to pretend to the people I love. I don't regret everything I've learnt about myself and the people around me. I don't regret that I think I can read people better than I could. I don't regret that it's saved me from ending everything.
So yeah, I'm a mix. :)

Yes. All the time.

If I'd managed to keep it small, and not obvious/stuck to a different place, I possibly wouldn't regret it so much. Sometimes I feel physically sick when I think about it.

If I'd never self harmed, I wouldn't have found RYL and made all the new friends I did. It's given me a huge other perspective on life and people in general. I wouldn't be the person I am today, and while I don't like that person 100%, I do like some aspects of me. So no, I'll never regret it totally.

i said yes, i have lost lots of friends to self harm, and the ones i do have i feel they get fed up with me. I feel like a burden and a failure, but I'm still addicted. I recently went 2months without cutting, the longest I have ever been, but now I'm back into it and can't even imagine recovering at the moment. People think I'm an attention seeker etc because of self harm and judge me because of it. I just wish i never started, I started so young but yet I'm still doing it. Sorry if this offends anyone, but its how i feel xx

I had to think about it, but I'd say no. I feel like it keeps me in line. However, I do wish I hadn't let my family find out because that has caused a lot of worry to them.

I looked down at my arms and I automatically thought yes, because they make me feel ugly but I step back and look over the past couple of years and I realize I have no regrets over my cutting. If I didn't have it as a vice I would not have survived, I know I would have killed myself. I've already had four attempts and if I didn't cut every time I needed to I would have been bursting at the seams and so much more readily headed straight to the drugs and alcohol. So infact, I'm incredibly thankful for cutting, it saved me when the situation exceeded my recourses for coping.

I said no...

Why regret things when you can move onwards and upwards?

i dont regret...all the problems i have had in the last 10 years...it has helped me cope...i regret every scar for a while but then...they all mean a part of my life!!!

I chose other option.

When i first started i couldn't even admit to myself i was a self harmer, i just cut every now and then, and i didn't think i was a SH'er, now i'm doing it up to 5 times a day.. So yea, i am a self harmer, and my arms are a scarred mess, but i don't know, i don't regret it as at the moment, cutting myself feels good, it takes away my pain, but i hate being scarred, i'm unsure, i have mixed feelings.

Part of me does, part doesn't.

It got me very close to people I love, its helped me grow up more and understand my life.
It also wasted years of my life which I regret terribly.

Tricky one. I voted 'other' because I can't bring myself to say that I'm glad I self harmed. I'm not. But I also don't regret it, at least not much.

I don't think it's a good way to deal with things, period. It has never kept me alive, it hasn't saved me. There are plenty of other ways of coping I could have chosen. Ways that would have helped more, and wouldn't have made things worse than they already were. I have scars all over my body, and while I've accepted them and I'm no longer ashamed, I'm never going to love them. I don't think that they tell any story or show that I've survived anything, other than that once, when I was younger, I made some mistakes. Some days I still feel awful about the fact that they're always going to be there, and even though people won't come right out and say anything, it will affect what they think of me. I do regret the pain and worry I caused people.

However, overall, I don't regret it. If I hadn't dealt with this stuff, I'd probably be a lot less compassionate, less able to be there for other people, I wouldn't have learnt so many of the things that I have. I wouldn't have found RYL, I wouldn't have met loads of amazing people.

At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. I did start, and I did continue, and then I stopped. I don't know what things would be like if I hadn't started. It's not important. All that really matters is what you've got now, and how you deal with things now. There's no point in regretting it.

So, no, would be the short answer :P

other...
 

I automatically wanted to say no, but then I thought it over and said other..
It has helped me get through a lot of things and made me the person that I am today, it has shown me who my real friends are and helped me to know myself better, but I still hate the scars on my arms and the looks people give me, my mother thinking that I am crazy and pathetic.. :bubblegum:

i dont regret starting,im kinda glad i did in a way,i think ive learnt a lot through doing it,if that mkaes any sense?

i dont as i would have found other ways (more harmful ways) to cause damage to myself such as drugs.

Yes, i regret every single cut, every burn, every scratch mark
i wish i had learnt to cope in other ways, because 7years on and i'm still struggling with it and how to deal with my emotions in a better way

Yes, i do regret it, i wish i sorted out my problems earlier, rather then letting them get worse and just cutting to get me through it, if that makes any sense.

Other- It's helped me through some hard times and stopped me doing even stupider things. It's bought me a lot closer to friends and it started off a [mostly] fantastic 11 month relationship. But obviously it's not something I want to be doing forever and I'd in no way encourage anyone else to start.

no, i need it sometimes

No. It'd change my whole life if I hadn't started hurting myself, like my entire world, I'd turn out differently, I'd be in a different place, I'd have a different lifestyle, probbaly.
I also wouldn't have the knowledge and experience I've gained from being so low, or the understanding of thigns better.
I don't think I'd appreciate the good thigns so much if I hadn't started.

I said yes. The reason is because I look at my self-inflicted scars and it shows me how much pain I am/was in. Its not so much regretting this part of my life, because I believe everything happens for a reason. I just wish that this phase wasnt so visual.

I go back and forth to be honest..sometimes I don't care that I started..other times..I donno..I kind of regret it just cus of the pain I've caused..

never
 

if i had to do it all over again, i'd still cut...its just something that happened...i dont regret it. and im not ashamed....i dont try to hide it from the world...if they are gonna accept me, they will with scars and all. y'know? it is just that its something that i did and now i have to deal with it....no, i will never regret it. it has made me learn a lot about myself

My mom is always trying to find ways to 'help' me cover my scars. I calmly tell her that I don't want to cover them. I don't regret putting myself through what I did, it was a growing experience. I'm not necessarily proud of it but I will never be ashamed. No regrets.

No regrets

it kept me alive

otherwise i think i would have made sure my attampts to end my life were completed

I 100% do not regret starting it was the only way i made it this far, it is what kept me alive and continues..as i work on my issues i will stop(hopfully). I am just over the regret, and see it as my survival tool that i learn to use to help me cope with what was going on with me around me and in my head

I put yes, but I think I probably should have put 'other'. I do regret making that first cut. I wish I hadn't because it's not a healthy way to deal with stuff. I wish I had the guts to ask for helps when I needed it, because asking for help doesn't make you weak.

At the same time, over the 6 years I have been SI-ing I have come to know myself better. I am more confident as a person, and I know that if I make it through this I can make it through anything. It's only now that I've learned that it is okay to ask for help. It's okay to have some of the feelings i have. It's okay to just be me. I still get triggered, and I have cut a couple of times in the past year, but I know I don't need it. And I know that I am a stronger for it. And even though I'm not completely through this I know I will be one day. I'm not confident with my scars yet, but I know in time I will be.

I wouldn't be the person I am today if it weren't for me SI-ing. So in some way I'm glad I started, but at the same time I wish I didn't have to live with my scars forever.

/ramble

Nope, not at all now I think about it.

sometimes i regret starting, other times i dont.

like si is something that defines me. its something i carry with me and i think that with my array of knowledge on si and depression and abuse i have been able to be more compassionate with other people who seem to have similar situations (i helped a friend get helped). however, there are many times when i regret having ever started. while i dont do it all the time, at times of high stress and low feelings i only resort to si and am not able to figure out how to cope any other way. i think si has prevented me from feeling and prevented me from connecting with another person.

so its been a curse and a blessing.

I wish I'd never started..

I regret it, it's making my life so much more difficult. But at the same time, I don't regret it as it brought so many wonderful people and experience in my life.

if i didnt self harm i woudl have killed myself by now, but i get the pain and relief from self harming and its enough


i dont regret it cuz i wouldnt be here without it

No, I don't regret it.
Because SI'ing has kept me from other, deadlier means of coping.

No regrets. They don't work.

i said other as sometimes i wish that i hadn't and that the scars would go away. but in other way i don't regret it as it shows what i have been through

if i didnt start to self harm i wouldnt of met my girlfriend, she means the world to me and if i didnt have her i would be well who knows where i would be right now, but i dont self harm anymore because of her XXX

well no, because if i hadnt of started i wouldnt be the person i am now. i wouldnt know that i had the ability to overcome or the ability to help others. tbh SI has helped me realise who i am and who i can be. not that SI is who i am but im sure i would be a different person if i had never SI'ed and im okay with who i am now.

that was a long explanation. lol

No i dont regret it it kept me alive
I wish i hadnt had the life i did which caused it but that was out of my control

I voted yes. Saying I don't regret it would be a lie. But I also know that at that time, and with the coping skills I had (or rather, didn't have), I wouldn't be alive today without it. I regret still doing it, and I regret not getting help while it could still have done something for me.

No
I have grown as a person after going through so much
:)

I fell like i should regret it but i don't or more like i can't. If i hadn't what would have happened to me?