Anonymous Confession

Hope you keep getting farther away from self harm, doing less and less until no more. Wish you the best. Hope you focus on things that help you improve yourself. Read, train, study, learn a new skill, etc. Treat yourself with care, practice selfcare routines, etc.

Hey there! I hope you are doing well. I am sorry that whatever you are going through is causing such emotional distress that you resort to that way of coping. Although I have never used that myself as a way of coping, I have had conversations with my partner and my friends who have done so, and I have found it to be very similar to how I felt when I was addicted to e*stasy. One of the things that helped me immensely once I learned how to do it was letting go of the shame that consumed me whenever I would relapse. The fact that you acknowledge that you want to stop and are taking steps to attempt to stop are great signs of progress (even if it doesn't feel like it). My therapist had told me to imagine the whole process like a staircase where the progress you make gets you up three steps for example, and when you relapse it just means you stay in that same step you are at, neither going up or down. The progress you make does not disappear just because you relapse, it just means you have to try again (and with diff methods) until it works! It will not feel like it in the moment, but after a while of continuous, gradual progress, it will eventually get you to the point where it all clicks and suddenly you find a way to cope with your emotions with things besides your current one! Best of luck on your journey, I believe in you :D