I Want to Self Injure (Powerpoint Transcript)
Original Post Here: http://selfcareafterrape.tumblr.com/post/52229189953
[All slides on a background of gradients of light purple with a dot grid]
(Slide 1)
I want to Self Injure
What can I do?
First, Acknowledge these truths.
You are a strong person. You are a good person.
Wanting to Self Injure does not make you a bad person. It does not make you weak. It does not mean you are wrong.
You can make it through this.
Now—why do you want to self harm?
It is important to recognize that there are many different reasons that this urge happens.
It may be an attempt to get rid of feelings/self soothe, and act of shame/guilt, a distraction, or an attempt to feel anything at all.
It may be something else entirely, but those are common reasons—and often the base of other reasons.
I hate myself/I deserve this.
No. You don’t. You don’t deserve this. You are a good person, you are a strong person, you are a worthy person.
Create a mantra of positive self-affirmations.
Understand that no matter what happened, it was not your fault. You do not deserve to hurt. You do not need to punish yourself.
Talk to a friend if you can, ask them to help reassure you that you aren’t a bad person.
Go take a shower. Especially if you self injure because of trauma—go take a shower. Allow yourself to feel clean. Exfoliate, scrub, do whatever you need to.
Have a list of reasons why you’re a good person available so that you can look at it. I keep a file with thank you notes that the kids I volunteer with have written me. Ask a friend to help if you can’t think of any.
I just want to feel something
talk a cold/hot shower. (nothing too cold or too hot though.)
Watch a really emotional TV show/movie that you’re invested in.
Part of the problem may be that you feel so many things, that your brain might have decided that it would be easier to go numb. If this is the case, try and break down all the different things that you could potentially be feeling—and all the reasons you have to feel something right now. Identify your stressors and try and place how you feel about each individual thing.
Eat really cold ice cream. Focus on the sensation and the taste.
Write on your skin with a sharpie/felt tip marker.
Go on Wikipedia and learn everything you can about _____ (an animal, a Greek god, a star system.)
Lear how to play basic rudiments like paradiddles, flam taps. You can do this with pencils, spoons, fingers
Go outside and pull weeks
Do a deep breathing exercise
Write a list of reasons why your best friend is cool
Go through your clothes and get rid of things that don’t fit
Organize you book shelf in an unusual way (like by color.)
Go outside and make a chalk mural.
I just want all the bad feelings to go away.
Write them down. Write down your bad feelings and then rip up the paper, or burn it, or stab it repeatedly with your pen.
Express your bad feelings creatively. This allows you to further process them—and that is a good thing.
Listen to angry music. Have a play list make up before you feel bad.
Have a list of emotions where you can easily find them. Part of the problem some people have is that they don’t know what they’re feeling exactly. It makes them feel better once they understand what they’re feeling.
Scream, yell, rant angrily about the thing that is making you upset. Make sure to say ‘This is not my fault’ out loud. Because it isn’t. And sometimes it really helps to fear it—for you to believe it.
Have a stress ball that you can squeeze.
Bake something from scratch—kneading the dough will help get out the tension. Doing it from scratch it gives you something to focus on. It’s a sensory experience which is always a bonus. And you have a final product which is always a good thing.
You are a good person. You are worthy person. You can do this.
Self Injury does not make you weak.
If you end up relapsing, everything will be okay. That does not make you weak. That does not mean all your time not self injuring was for nothing.You are on a long journey towards being better, and there will be set backs. But at the end—it will be so worth it.
You deserve to get better. You deserve to be healthy and happy. You deserve that—and so much more.
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