Don't want to stop.

[loony lovegood]

I'm just at a point with sh where I don't want to stop. And I don't want that for anybody else. Nobody should be self harming, I just feel like for me right now it's alright. And I know if one of my friends were to tell me that, I'd think it was horrible and I would tell them why it's not alright. I just know that right now I don't want to stop, and at one point I did. I'm pretty sure I'll want to stop again. I usually eventually do. I guess I just want to know if anybody knows how to get to that point? Cause as much as I see no fault in doing it right now, I know my friends do not. And I hate continuing to hurt them like this, and I just wish I wanted to stop. So, I guess what the point of this post was, does anybody have any tips for how to want to stop sh? Cause I know I won't be able to stop until I at least have the desire to stop, which I currently do not have at all.

[Celestial.]

Hey there.

I've been where you are. The decision to stop can be incredibly hard, and it can be even more difficult when you know you should want to stop, but you just don't want to yet. And that's okay. Relying on something like self harm means that finding other ways to cope can be difficult, especially since self harm can be a response to so many emotions: disappointment, anger, sadness. But finding other ways to cope is important, and can be the key to stopping.

So, I have a question which could either be very easy or very hard to answer: why do you hurt yourself? If you know your triggers, you can find ways to deal with them, ways that don't involve hurting yourself. Find healthier coping mechanisms, and the need to self harm should diminish.

It can help to make a list of reasons why you should stop. To start with, you could have things like: the physical damage it does to your body when you hurt yourself, the way doing this to yourself can hurt your friends, the fact that you deserve better than to hurt yourself... see how many things you can come up with. You could even get friends to help you make the list, if you want.

Finally, try thinking about how good it will feel to be able to say, 'I'm recovered', to use past tense when talking about your self harm, to feel the pride of achieving something you didn't think you could. Imagine that feeling, and hold onto it, and then go get it.

Good luck!