[Pi.R^2]

I'm in a similar position in terms of length of time free and still having urges.

I'm not going to pretend I don't find it a very gloomy situation but on the positive side it's good to think about all the things you have survived in the last 3.5 years without scratching or cutting. Every single time I thought the only way to cope with a situation was to cut, turns out I coped without cutting, so chances are I can this time too :)

I've actually been reflecting on this a lot recently and have been thinking about how urges to cut could be our mind's way of alerting us to woe. So whilst some people might get butterflies in their stomach, or find they're being more snappy with people or find it more difficult than normal to get out of bed, our minds got so used to self-harming being the response to difficult situations that even now, that's the way that worry, stress or unhappiness manifests. It's hard because in the moment it really does feel like I actually do just want to cut, but I'm trying to think about it as my brain's default response to anything stressful and tut at it for being so 2012 and think about what might actually be the way I'd like to approach the stressful situation.

I have no idea if that is any use at all, sorry for the ramble!