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?
as usual the situation won't change, i'll feel calmer though. - what will hurting myself bring to the situation? what will it take away from the situation?
it'll bring a sense of alm and relief and punishment, it'll tae away positive coping and my ability to do my job honestly - 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 the long run i want to wake up and be ok, and SIing isn't going to help with that. - 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 be a temporary relief, it'll feel good adn it might last out the day, by then i think i'll feel better. - 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 could go back to bed and sleep off my hangover, or i could wait patiently till my housemates get up and then chat to them. both of these will meake me feel better and chatting to my housemates might evenchange the situation slightly - 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'll feel devastated tomorrow if i SI especially after giving geep a load of my tools yday and taling so long about not SIng. i'll feel better tomorrow if i chat to my housemates, and probably slightly impressed that i got through this - 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 want to know what happened last night, i want the hangover to go adn i want to cry, but i can't grasp what i want to cry about or make the tears come.
urges aren't necessarily the enemy. they happen for reasons, and they're an expression of a desire to stay alive and stay sane and keep coping. remember that.
More Before Questions To Answer
- Why do I feel I need to hurt myself? What has brought me to this point?
coming close to SI last night, panic about what happened last night, what i did but can't remember - Have I been here before? What did I do to deal with it? How did I feel then?
for once i guess i have been here before, and i chalk it up to a drunken story to tell and i'm done with it - What I have done to ease this discomfort so far? What else can I do that won't hurt me?
had breafast to try and remove the ahngover, posted here and tried chatting to my housemates a little, but i need the others to get up to fill me in - How do I feel right now?
frightened, guilty, unsure of myself, hungover - How will I feel when I am hurting myself?
calm - How will I feel after hurting myself? How will I feel tomorrow morning?
guilty, useless, - Can I avoid this stressor, or deal with it better in the future?
at some point i could learn to drink less
- Do I need to hurt myself?
not at all, but i can't mae the want go away. although i'm a little calmer anyways now.
Remember you don't have to answer all the questions if you don't feel up to it.
, yes the hangover is gone but the urges today have been AWFUL. have spoken to people about last night though and i didn't make a fool of myself or do what i thought i had done.