Before

[WishIKnew]

how will this situation or feeling change if i hurt myself?

The situation will not change, but the anxiousness I’m feeling right now will subside.

what will hurting myself bring to the situation? what will it take away from the situation?

I will be more relaxed, focused, and able to breathe. I will not be as anxious as I am right now.

how do i want to feel about this in the long run? is hurting myself likely to get me closer to or farther from feeling that way?

In control, hurting myself will bring me closer to being in control for now, but probably not in the long run – if I do hurt myself, the situation will be controlling me, and not me controlling the situation?

if hurting myself seems like my best option right now, how long will the relief it brings last? what will i do then?

Until the next time I’m feeling panicky/ faced with a difficulty. Continue this never ending and vicious circle?

what is something i could do now instead of hurting myself? how will it change the situation i'm in? how long will that change last, and what will i do then?

Take a walk, get some fresh air. Will probably also make me feel relaxed and in control. I don’t know…

how will i feel tomorrow if i hurt myself? how will i feel tomorrow if i do the other thing i came up with?

Disappointed for failing myself, sad, guilty, feeling like I haven’t tried hard enough to put an end to this. Empowered.

what do i really want to do right now? how can i best honor the self-protective instinct that has me wanting to self-injure right now?

I really need to hurt myself, don’t want that though – I want to quit. Just take that walk.

Why do I feel I need to hurt myself? What has brought me to this point?

My heart is racing and I’m really anxious. Everything needs to be done right now. I can’t keep up; I’m tired and I’m slipping up in my work.

Have I been here before? What did I do to deal with it? How did I feel then?

Yes, listen to music - cut. Like a failure, angry for not trying to fight the urge hard enough and for not finding other distractions when the music didn’t work.

What I have done to ease this discomfort so far? What else can I do that won't hurt me?

Tried to stay focused, doing the quick and easy work first and leaving the more challenging work for later when I feel better. Ask to be excused for a while and hit the road.

How do I feel right now?

Dazed

How will I feel when I am hurting myself?

Calm, relief and alive

How will I feel after hurting myself? How will I feel tomorrow morning?

Right after – calm. Tomorrow morning: ashamed, guilty, angry.

Can I avoid this stressor, or deal with it better in the future?

Can't be avoided, but can be handled better with some external assistance.

Do I need to hurt myself?

Need - yes. Want - no