How to deal with self-harm alone?

Self harm is a very hard topic to handle on your own. I used to self harm and was very depressed. Eventually, with a strong support system, I found it rather easy to begin to engage in activities that made me feel better about myself. I started listening to music that made me feel happy vs music that made me feel sad. I began to exercise which helps with mood and confidence. I began to eat healthy and provided myself with lots of self love and care. I took the best care of myself that I could and slowly found my thoughts about myself changing for the better. If it helps, begin with exercising and following a regime. Eating healthy, getting plenty of rest and letting go of people who are not good for you.

Though recovery is completely different for everyone, especially if the reasons for self harm are different it's possible to recover without professional help (though is can be harder). I can only provide what I know and have experienced. Firstly you'll need to know how to care for inevitable Injuries (how to keep them clean and stop bleeding etc.) this varies depending on your type of harm so is worth looking up specifically if you can To stop you'll have to understand why you harm and your feelings associated with it (whether you self harm due to sadness, to cope with pain, to see blood or others)the better you understand an issue the easier it is to find a solution. You can do this by recognising what triggers your urges when they're happening, focus on how harming makes you feel either through just paying attention or taking note. Once you understand why you harm you can begin to understand how to risk the probability of harmony yourself. This can include avoiding triggers that make you feel like harming or more essentially finding coping mechanisms to use instead of self harm. A few reccommended are :drawing on your skin to resemble an injury, flicking a band or using an ice cube yo resemble the pain or more mental techniques like distraction (going for walks, grounding exercises). Understand you will also need support to deal with the emotions you have with self harm, this can come in many forms. A journey to stop self harm can be difficult but be patient with yourself (relapse isn't uncommon) and just try to process things as often as possible, learning healthy coping and eventually leaving harm behind.

You can deal with self-harming better when you truly distract yourself from your urges. Things are harder when you try and focus on trying not to hurt yourself. Find new hobbies, meditate, listen to uplifting music, do artsy things and stay the awesome you that you are. Talking to someone who you truly trust, or even a listener on 7 Cups, might just help you. just naming the emotion you are feeling out loud to someone might make things feel better already. Most importantly love yourself and don't give up... everything which is hard now, will pay off a lot in your future.

Do some other things that will distract your mind from thinking about self- harm. On my experience I usually read novel or watch a movie or listen to lively songs whenever I have a thought that I want to harm my self so bad. I hope this will help. You can also seek for someone to talk to. We may not always have someone to talk to personally but you can just go to 7cups to talk to us, we are wholeheartedly willing to listen on your story and maybe offer something you need which is a listener and someon to talk to on that moment.

To the ones who are self-harming … I know you are exhausted. I know you are confused and scared and that you want this to stop. I also know that you have courage, strength and a depth of feeling that is beautifully rich and honest – and that it sometimes brings you pain. As confusing and as painful as the thought of hurting yourself might be, when it feels as though there is no option, it is understandable that the confusing, unthinkable things become an option. It will be that way for any of us. Most people who self-harm keep it a secret. Secrets put a wall between people – between feeling seen, understood, loved and validated. They isolate. They have a way of breathing life into shame, guilt, confusion or loneliness that might already be causing breakage. Whether self-harm is a secret or not, here are some things you need to know. To the ones who self-harm. You are not alone. The loneliness of it all feels as though it could break you some days, but you are not alone. The people who love you want to understand, but they need your help for that. Let them in. We all have battles that we need an army to help us fight.

since i have dealt with this in the past the best way is to try to work on yourself and try to start with a hobby, start trying to accept that whoever you are, are enough and you deserve happiness as much as anyone... life can be harsh and sometimes it might feel like you are not worth the happiness but there is nothing anyone could have done to deserve that. try to start caring for yourself, you should be proud of you for trying to reach out. you have done so much for yourself. its you who wants to help you. try accepting and loving yourself.

Self harm is a serious issue which often has a lot of underlying reasons. Self harm is not something that you should deal with alone. It may not seem like it but it actually is a cry for help and you should speak to someone about it as soon as possible. All though it seems like you are in control and the effect feels like a temporary release it does not last and does not resolve the reasons that are causing you to do it. Talking to someone about it can really help. You can talk you a family member or friend or call a helpline, even speak to some one here at 7cups about it.

There are lots of people you can talk to about what you are going through. It is important to tell someone you trust and feel comfortable with, as they will be able to help and support you. Young people told us that they have been able to talk to: friends family someone at school, such as a trusted teacher, school nurse or pastoral care staff a youth worker their GP or healthcare professionals such as a counsellor or nurse charities and helplines (some of which are listed below). There are no rules about how you should tell someone. The most important thing is that you feel comfortable and trust the person you decide to tell. Set time aside to talk to them. Remember you can set the pace and it is up to you how much you want to tell them. If you find speaking about it too difficult, you can tell someone in writing or in an email. You can even ask a friend to speak to a trusted adult on your behalf. Let them know you need help with how you are feeling. There is no need to give details about how you have harmed yourself and you don’t need to talk about things you feel uncomfortable talking about. Try to focus on the thoughts and feelings behind your self-harm rather than the behaviours. If you decide to talk to a GP or other health professional, you can take a friend or family member with you to support you.

Finding safe ways to cope, some of these include temperature factors. Some of the methods I used to deal with self harm were rubbing some ice on the area, however ice was not always around, so i would carry some elastic rubber bands, those ones your mom uses to close chip bags, and i would hit myself with those to feel something. Taking a cold shower also helps, but if you are more of an artistic person i wuld most definitely recommend drawing some butterflies on the area and keep them there until the ink fades, I know it's hard, but you can do it! if you like this idea but you are not as artistic, I would draw some lines with a pen or felt tip.

Connect with a local therapist or you’re work, school, collage\university, or you’re local suicidal hotline. If you do not like speaking up in public you might want to download a coping app or a meditation app, although this only helps some people you should definitely give it a try. If not you could take a walk and embrace the wonderful world that you’d be missing, make a meal and stick some music on and make a day out of it, walk to a famous landmark and take photos. If none of these make you happy you could simply just do some set a goal and try to do by the end of the year or month or whatever, it could be something like get slim, change my diet, give to charity, make 2 more friends, change my mood, save up for a trip, get a job. Anything at all. Just make YOU happy, but don’t be selfish thousands of people are out there for you to be loved my I mean there’s only 5% of the ocean found maybe you could find 2% more.