Triggering (SH): IM 5 MONTHS CLEAN TODAY!!!!!

[FONT=""][COLOR=""][SIZE=""]Hi it’s jammer!
I’m 5 months clean from self harm today!!
Some of the following might be a bit triggering but i’ll try to keep it short.

A couple years ago I started self harming. I’m not gonna get into why right now but maybe in another post. One night my mom saw one of my scars and said “you better not cut yourself.” That really hurt me. This is NOT the way to handle self harming and that just made me get creative. I started doing it on my legs and positioning my arms in certain ways so my mom wouldn’t see any scars. I started talking to my friends about it and it really helped me get through it since I don’t really have access to therapy. Only talk to your friends if they’re comfortable and willing! I started to slow down on self harming and eventually brought myself to a stopping point. Unfortunately I would relapse a year later due to a skating coach who got too rough and started yelling at me. She said things that hurt me and broke me down and my mom praised her for it. I dreaded going to skating every day because of this. This is all excluding what my dad has been doing (i’ll get into it on another post). Eventually I found ways to distract myself from self harm and it made me realize that self harm doesn’t make things better. It just makes things worse. I picked up my attitude and now I enjoy skating most days! I DO NOT enjoy that coach though and im still working that out.

Anyway here are some ways to distract yourself from self harm.
These may not work for everyone!

1 drawing: expressive drawing lowers cortisol levels and thinking about something creative can get the idea of self harm out of your head.

2 writing: essentially the same as drawing. This is why it’s good to have a diary.

3 taking a walk: taking a walk, especially out in nature, can also lower cortisol, and thinking about your surroundings distracts you from those nasty self harm thoughts.

4 reading: reading is another way to keep your mind occupied by processing the information being given to you, which can also distract you from self harm.

5 playing games: ditto, but you can have more fun (in my opinion).

6 picking up a new hobby: you get the gist.

7 making paper stars: giving them to people is fun too!

8 listening to music: i’m a huge music person and i love hearing cool beats.

There are some things in my post that I didn’t go into detail on. Also my self harm thoughts still come back from time to time. Remember that you are valid! [/size][/color][/font]

[Dude111]

Congrats!!!!!!!

Lets make it 5 more