Do you know you've stopped for good?
 

I'm just curious because I know, somehow I just know for a fact, that I will never ever go back to self harming. No question about it.

Does anyone else feel like this?

It's great that you feel so strongly; I don't yet. I know I want to get better, but never feels like such a strong word. I'm not sure what will happen in the future. Now I'm just trying to take things one day at a time. You've got a great attitude. Keep treating yourself right, and good luckies to you. :Smile:

I'm glad you feel that way.
I don't think you can know that you'll never ever do it again because, well, life is random and you never know what can happen to you, but at any rate, hold on to that feeling and let it last as long as it can.

Congrats and take care!

Nah, I really do know I won't, I've some hard times in the past year or so since I stopped and it's never been an option. I think you know for sure when you get to the point where you would have done it, and you just didn't.

i'm not so sure myself been away from it for so long, i'd like to think i'd never go back buttime will tell

i agree i think you do know when you will never go back
i feel the same 4months isn't very long but a lot has happened to me ive lost 2 of the most important people in my life.
And i'm the same as you... i didnt feel the need to hurt myself.
Well done on being so positive
i wish you all the luck in the world
xxx

No, I don't yet. Managed to hold off the urges for nearly three months now, but it's getting increasingly difficult; added with the stress that I've been under, and the suicidal thoughts that have come back over the past few weeks, I think it's only a matter of time before I slip up -_-

I've been through a lot since I recovered, and even though the temptation was there during some of the more emotionally imposing events, I know that I'll never turn back.

It's always good to hear that someone else feels the same way.

I doubt that I will ever be completely free from it. It's always going to be there for me, in lesser or greater degrees.

I've been free for just over 2 years, I never really got triggered to start with, so that's not an issue, I never really got urges to self harm, just did it on impulse, like a subconscious part of me took over. But yes it is still there. If my life went downhill again then I might do it again. When I was with my ex, I quit. When we split up I started again. For me recovery was about me being happy. It was about having something or someone to distract me, to make my life situation a place worth staying in, to give me meaning in my life.

I sometimes get to wanting to harm again, but I go to matt instead of my blades. I threw away all my blades and I use a non-disposeable razor to shave with so I don't get tempted.

I'm free and I know I am, if i wasn't so determined though...I don't know. When I'm ill (again) and down, I look at the pills I'm taking and know how easy it would be to OD, to sleep undisturbed. I just can't do that to myself anymore.

It is still an option, I'm just determined that it's not going to be one that I take. mand x

I've been free for 6 months, and I'm not sure whether I'll go back. I still get really bad urges and I really struggle sometimes, but all the great stuff outweighs all the rubbish! I know I could do it, often I really want to, but I have amazingly supportive friends and all I have to do is phone them and they talk to me for as long as is necessary so I don't really need it anymore in that sense. Who knows!! I dont want to go back, but SI will always be there I think.

every couple of months i get a really bad urge and i always eventually give in...when those stop coming, then i'll have more faith in stopping for good.

I want to stop, more then anything, but i'm doing it 3-5 times a day, something's gotta give, but i hope, i can be half as great as you! Congratulations on stopping, and not having the urge to come back to it! You're really strong. Hugs.

I think it can be said that someone will not self-harm again. I was addicted to cutting and now, it's gone. I have gone through some hard ass times lately, harder then when i ended up in a psych ward in many respects, but I have not once got close to cutting. I know for a fact that I will not cut again. That doesn't mean the urge still isn't there. It's like an recovered alcoholic driving by a bar, they will think "hey, i used to do that, and it helped at the time" but never once do they think "I need a drink right now or else, i don't even know". Thats how it feels, at least for me at the moment you know you will never go back

I think for me,at least at the moment anyway, self harm is still going to be an option. I have not regularly cut for three years next week but the urges keep coming back and I have had a few slip ups. Unfortunately the thought that I have completely given up self harm forever scares me and I am not sure I have stopped for good. Part of me thinks it is only a matter of time.

I have no intentions of stopping. Saying I have, hiding it better, using other forms that aren't as visible until I'm out of the house, but I'll never stop entirely. I plan on going back to cutting after I leave home. The way I see it its my body to scar, I don't mind my scars, I take care of them, whats the big ****ing deal if I wanna hurt myself eh.

-Matt

Its nice to know that some people feel the same =)

i know i have stopped for good.

i don't know, i find everything regarding selfharm different now.
before, i did it because i tried to convince myself that it somehow helped. it didn't.
maybe i would do it again, but i doubt it. &i mean. that would be because i WANTED to do it. like, i don't know how to explain it fully. but it would be because i just felt like doing it. not for the same reasons i did it two years ago when i did it because i was apparantly depressed & suicidal & whatever.

i consider myself to be "free" from selfharm.
i have done for a very very long time.

I really don't know.

My mindset is entirely different now, and I really don't see the benefits that I once did. I think I'm pretty much the same as Linda here.

Me tooooo -high five-

sometimes i think i know that i have stopped for good
because even if i do feel that i want to i jus know that i wont..
if im upset or whatever sometimes i do think that cutting is something i would like to do but deep down i just know that i wont.
if something tragic happened then i might do like, my mum dying or something..hmmm
...i dunno

I would say I'm 99% sure I've stopped for good, reserving that one percent solely for the fact that I don't know what the future will bring and how I would cope with the most horrible of scenarios such as losing my partner and so on. Same for the alcohol. Right now I do feel that they are simply not an option, simple as that! The urges just aren't there.

Good on you!
Me? Nah. I don't think so. But it's different to how it was before.. then, I was more or less dependant on it. Now? I'm not really sure, I'm six months free but I have slipped up quite a few times and I never know when it's going to happen again, but I'm definately not dependant on it.

we need to set up some kind of protective shield (can it be like a purple laser all around us - star-trek style? - btw i am not a trekkie i hate it!) and all sh thoughts/urges/triggers just bounce off it? we could patent it and give some of the proceeds to RYL mand x

i havent done for a while,2 years free with a few slip ups,but i know i will never do it again.its just not an option anymore.x

I too will never self harm again.

I never intend to do it again.

I feel like that...and I know for a fact I've stopped because I've been through some bad days recently and I used to cut for less than what's happened recently...it got bad, really bad and still I did not do it. That's how I know for sure, I can think about it but without doing it.

I think i am the complete opposite to that. I havent Si'd in about 6 months and before that it was probably another 6 months. When i was cutting i use to get hapopy for a few weeks and then would just get more depressed than i was before and i still feel as though this is bound to happen, i feel as though im not suppose to just stay happy.

Thats great kaytie :D

I dont know if I have stopped for good yet, honestly. I mean its been ten months and right now it would take alot for me to resort back to cutting, the guilt and disappointment alone is enough to stop me. Some days, I know I have stopped for good and that I dont need it but others it feels like Im counting down to when I can cut again instead of counting up.

I know i've quit for good because the last time i slipped up it didnt help in the slightest, it made me feel worse than ever. After so many years i realised that hurting yourself is bollocks, it doesnt help you at all, not in the long run. Real life is alot less scary than constantly being on the edge.

It's painful, embarassing and humliating and i deserve better.

:laugh:

I dont think I will ever e able to be content in the knowledge that it willnever happen again!
This is because....i first self harmed when I was 9...didnt know what it was then or that it had a name. only did it a few times....then again when i was bout 12..still knew nothing bout it...stopped again
next time I was bout 14..again knew nothing bout it but hell did I have bruising!
Then Next time was when I was 15 or 16...still knew nothing (how dim was I!) but then was talking to a mate who had self-harmed and he showed me a scar and it was thenit clicked! I then showed him a scar I have had since i was 9!
I then started slef-harming all the time when I was 17...it started off just once every couple of weeks so I thought nothing of it...then it got to once a week then once a day...it eventually became once every two hours which was really scary! I kept it to myself for as long as possible but it really scared me so told my friends...

After a few years I landed myself in hospital...should have been plenty of times before but this time it was life or death and knew I had to go and that I had to admit it to my mum! That was the kick up the bum i needed and I forced myself to recover because so many of my friends got so scared that they were going to lose me that I could not bear doing that to them!

Ever since then..i have been pushing myself to recover but i dont think i will ever be secure in the knowledge that I will become totally free! But maybe one day....you never know!

I'd like to say so.
But there are still days when I really come close to slipping.
Equally, having been in a place when I was cutting once or twice a day, I know that I never want to go back there.
And I'll fight.
But there are days when it's hard and I almost slip...

Yeah, I've stopped for good. I'm never going to do it again. Not once did it help, not once did it stop the things I thought it would. The last 3 months haven't been easy, some really bad times but I got through them all without it!

And besides, I told WonderBoy I'd never do it again, I've never lied to him and I don't plan to start now!!!

XX

hey
i dont think im at the stage where i feel that i will never go back...but i think im almost there.....although i have been through a really bad few weeks and i havent self harmed once..so im feeling stronger definitley..

take care
yasmin xxx

ps. its great that u know u will never go back to it..its such a great step forward well done!

I think it's brilliant you feel that way and i hope i will too one day but i'm not there yet. I don't know if i ever will be. Good on you though.

I know I haven't quit for good, and that bothers me. Every time I tell myself that I am going to quit, I wind up relapsing... It's really difficult, and it angers me...

I dont think i will ever be free. It seems to be the only thing thats helped ever. It doesnt bother me though. Ive learned to live with this imperfection.

I think that it's all up to a persons basic personality. Some might be able to say they've stopped, some, like me, won't. I've selfharmed in one way or an other, for as long as I can remember, and when I've tried to stop I just end up wioth more serious SH. So pauses is the thing for me, and I believe there will come a day that one of my "SH-pauses" might last for years, but I don't think I will ever be able to say for sure I've stopped for good.

I'm really glad for those of you who say you have stopped, and have that "never again" feeling in you though :)

i think that I have.
Its been a year and a half now, and I had one really tough time where I would typically turn to si, and i havent. I dont think about it as the cure all solution it used to be for me. And I sort of feel disgusted if I even think of it as an option for me?
i dont even come to ryl anymore really, only if im bored.

i think i have quit for good as well coz i dnt seem to get the urges anymore i havent cut for 22 days i know thts not long but the last time i did it didnt seem to do anything it didnt release and i haven't had any urges since so i really do believe tht i quit for good

I feel like maybe I have, because I'm approaching 6 months free (27th this month!) and I feel like I've changed from who I was when I was self-injuring ... I'm not that same person and I'm not in that same place that I might be driven to do it again.
Then again, I'd never say never.

It's been 18 months (with 1 slip) but I still don't feel like I can say that's it for good. I just can't bear to set myself up for failure like that. I know how close I've come to breaking; I just can't say for certain that I'll never do it again.

I'd like to hope so, though.

This is such a good thread, it's really positive. It's been 6 days since my last cut. But yesterday I just decided that I've had enough. Yeah, I like the blood and the scars and I dont feel guilty when I cut. But that's when something takes over and I have no control over it. But I want to take back that control. I dont want to be SI'ing for the rest of my life, so I figure I have to quit at some stage. With my thinking being so clear at the moment it seems like a good time to try to quit. Any words of advice from those that have quit would be great thanks.

i like to think i wont ever go back to self harming but i still get urges but i know giving in will just make me unhappy.

for me cutting help anymore and stopping cutting has helped me find better ways to cope.Only a few slip ups in 8 months,i am getting close to never feeling the need to again.

I'm sure some day I will go back to it, but I try not to think of it and just keep a good frame of mind. Though, I think it'll be hard to shake forever.

I can honestly say that I have no idea if I've stopped for good or not. And that's after more than 2 years of not doing anything. It's always in the back of my mind when I'm upset, especially recently as literally everything I thought was secure and unmoveable has been shattered. I've still not done anything but I've been very tempted. So I really don't know that I am 'free' from it.
Sorry for the long reply, I go off on one sometimes :)