r/selfharm__recovery

WWW

I’ve had an insanely triggering week. I don’t know how I’ve managed not to relapse. My scars are fading and it’s stressing me out. Any advice on how to keep myself from relapsing? I keep just delaying it, but in doing so I also kinda give myself permission to do it, if that makes sense. Whether or not I relapse depends on if I’m strong enough to put it off again when the time comes.

Just today, my niece attempted to overdose. With a lot of talking, she’s back home tonight, but I don’t know what to do as her aunt to support her. All forms of medications have been removed/hidden from her, and I found every possible damaging object I could and hid those as well. I just wanna support her, but I don’t know how to do so. Please let me know.

Does anyone have suggestions for an alternative to sh? I’ve used sh in various forms my whole life as something grounding and sensory seeking, plus I have OCD and that makes it almost compulsive. Is there anything specifically pain inducing but not super harmful obviously that I could try? TIA

I think we all do it from time to time, though some of us have an easier time of it than others.

Mine are on my right shoulder; largely faded now days because it's been 30 years, but still visible. If someone points them out or asks, and I'm not comfortable with them enough to just tell the truth, I have a story about stacking names of hay in my dad's horse barn. One fell on me and knocked me into a roll of barbed wire hanging on the wall. It's only a half lie because something like that did happen a few times, only my dad's fences aren't barbed wire, so no wire on the wall.

What's your made up excuse?

My scars are about 10 years old, faded but noticeable. One thigh is tattooed over so you’d have to look closely to notice but my other thigh is pretty obvious. I don’t know what to tell my kids when they ask me about it. Right now they’re too little to notice but just curious what I should say when they are old enough to understand? I’ve always said a four wheeler and barbed wire accident when randoms ask. I don’t want to lie to my children but I also don’t want to expose them to that. Obviously I would love another tattoo to cover my other leg, but that’s expensive and not an option right now due to my current pregnancy haha. I just hate the thought of my children wondering about that stuff on their mom. I wish I had never done it but it is what it is

Okay so for context I've recently turned 16 and I have a ton of scars over my legs from when I was 14 and I'm pretty sure I only have epidermis and dermis scars so they're quite light (apart from 1-2 darker ones) and like I was just wondering if they ever fade or will I just have to wear pants forever smh. They're like ALL OVER my legs so I was thinking maybe in the future I'll get those like fake skin colored tights cuz ts kinda pmo

tw self harm 🙀🙀🙀

I’ve wondered this for awhile now and i’m finally trying to get an answer. Self harm is often used as coping mechanism for poor mental health. Self harm is done because people use it as a coping mechanism so they dont off themselve. so why is it so looked down upon? I understand not wanting people to cut themselves so deep that it could permanently damage their arm but i mean like styros. I am gonna use personal example's because i can. I cut myself because it genuinely makes me feel better and it helps me calm down and prevents me from doing something more drastic. and I understand being against it because some people show their SH off which i personally don’t agree with I think doing it for attention is weird but i slightly get it. anyways i dont do it to show off, it just genuinely makes me feel better. It’s my body, my skin, my blood, my razor, and im the one cutting myself and the only one that can see it, not anyone else. So whats the big deal its not harming anyone else its just harming me so why do people care so much and i dont wanna hear “it’s because they care about you and dont want to see you in pain” because im not in pain, I like it. It keeps me on this planet. i’ve tried other coping mechanisms but none of them compare to SH. it’s euphoric. i’m not constantly cutting myself, I take breaks in between so that they can heal and i take a little break but then when i feel a kinda strong emotion i cut both my shoulders because they need to be even. I don’t go shoving it in people’s faces, i keep it to myself. so why is it so bad, i just cant understand why people disapprove of it sm. Its nothing bad just a few cuts, they will heal. and there nice. Sure it might hurt to some people but it might feel good to others. different folks different strokes or something idk. but what’s painful to most feels good to a few so why does that automatically make it rule that it’s bad?? i’m not doing it with malicious intentions or whatever and im definitely not doing it to make others uncomfortable or to make them harm themselves too im just saying to stop trying to force people to quit if their happy just as they are.

Im really high rn so sorry if the grammar and spelling isn’t great, I tried my best to get my point across. if anyone has any helpful answers that aren’t just “it makes people uncomfortable”, “it hurts”, “people care about you“ then please reply. I think about this all the time because people constantly pity me for my scars and get all boo hoo crying when they find out i cut myself telling me to stop for them or sum shit like i’m doing it to them. girl bye 🫩 sorry im just ranting. Yeah please reply if you have any advice or actual useful information on this topic. ok yep bye.