Before You Self-Harm
write down the shadow that's hiding behind the urge. look at it. ask yourself:
- how will this situation or feeling change if i hurt myself?
i will still have memories from the nitemares, now i'll just have scars too - what will hurting myself bring to the situation? what will it take away from the situation?
it will make me feel comfortable, but will make me lose self-respect later - 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?
i want to feel better. hurting myself will make me feel better - if hurting myself seems like my best option right now, how long will the relief it brings last? what will i do then?
it'll last for a few minutes, and then i'll need it again - 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?
i don't know . . . i could write a letter to my pen pal. that'll probably distract me for a while. - how will i feel tomorrow if i hurt myself? how will i feel tomorrow if i do the other thing i came up with?
i will feel guilty. if i write her a letter i'll probably feel better. - 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?
