Hi,
I’m new here and not really sure how this works. I have been SI’ing since I was about 15 years old and I am now 26. It hasn’t been constant. I went for about 6 years where I SI’d at least once a week if not more and then I was a year without it when I caved and started again. Since then it has been on again off again…. for the past couple of weeks it’s been really bad. I’ve SI’d too often… I need to stop… I want to stop but I don’t even know where to start. I guess my first post is about asking how to stop… because I am at a loss.
First off, I’m glad that you chose to post on here. This blog has helped me more than I ever thought possible and I hope it will do the same for you.
Secondly…I wish there was some magic formula that I could tell you that will help you stop injuring. I wish there was one when I was self injuring every day. But there isn’t. Some things work for some people, but not for others. I’ll tell you what worked for me and I hope it will help you!
For me, I hit rock bottom. Injuring far too often. No one in my family knew and my friends had abandoned me.
Basically, I had to accept the fact that I could’t just stop cold turkey. I couldn’t say to myself “I’ll never self injure again!” because that is unrealistic. If i say that, and then I do injure again, I quit and give up and say there’s no way I can stop.
Relapse is a part of recovery. I have been in recovery since last July I think…but I have injured a bunch of times since then. First I went a day with out injuring and injured again, then week without it, then I went two weeks. Soon it was a month. Then 4 months. After 4 months my relapse was bad, and that was in February. But actually, today is my 5 month mark!! I am not under the impression I’ll never do it again, even though I never want to, but the thing is that recovery is not an event, it’s a process. You have to get up every time you fall and keep on trying not to injure. Each time I go a little bit longer.
I have a lot more to say on the subject but I’ve written a lot already. I’d love to talk to you if you email me.
visiblyperfectinvisiblyscarred@gmail.com
Hope something I’ve said helped and I hope to hear from you 🙂 You CAN beat this addiction. I believe in you.