Day 4: 50 Way to Beat the Self-Injury Blues

Self-Injury

This post is a special one. For some, you might not understand it and may never need it, God willing. But for others, this post could be a life-saver...or a sanity saver.

Sometimes some of us can find it difficult to deal with our emotions in a healthy manner. At times, this can lead to self-injury, which is different for each person. Various forms of self-injury can include, but are certainly not limited to cutting, scratching, isolation, hair pulling, picking at wounds, digesting harmful substances, eating disorders, burning, and so on.

People who self-harm need professional help, such as therapy and rehab. However, overcoming self-injury is a lifelong process and those of us who are trying to recover need to find things to occupy our time and minds when self-harming enters our thoughts. Below is a list of ideas that people can try when they find themselves in a self-injury situation. I hope they help. (Would like to give credit to ArtistMWS from Daily Strength for some of the items on this list...great ideas!)

50 Distractions

1. Call a friend. Always have someone on standby as your emergency "safety" to talk you out of it, or just, well, talk. they don't even have to know you self-harm, but it would be a good idea to tell atleast one person what your going through

2. Sing and dance to your favorite music

3. Go somewhere public, like Wal-Mart or the mall

4. Get a pet and love it unconditionally, people with pets are proven to be happier

5. Play with a rubberband

6. Surf the web, watch funny youtube videos

7. Put up pictures of your nephews, nieces, children, cousins, any small kids in your family, its hard to hut yourself when small children are "watching"

8. Watch tv

9. Clean your house, and re-arrange it..a new look and a clean house can be very uplifting!

10. Pray, God is always listening...and listen back, you may be surprised to know he's talking too

11. Blog, post to a forum, write a poem or in a journal, sometimes we need to just express our emotions in a positive way

12. Be around another person, you can't hurt yourself around another person

13. Paint, draw, color, make something crafty..you dont have to be good at it, just do it and love what you make :)

14. Read a good book

15. Go for a run or walk, OUTSIDE..there are so many positive distractions outdoors

16. Pick up photography..take pictures of everything and see what kind of different ways you can wiew such simple items like a vase, a tree, a flower..find the joys in simple objects

17. Play an online game

18. Find a "feel-good" movie and watch it when you're down

19. Cook (but no knives...avoid this if you're a burner too)

20. Remind yourself how you don't want scars and how hard it is to cover them up

21. Call your therapist (if you don't have one, get one..we all need someone to talk to who knows the professional side of things)

22. Scream or yell about whatever you're upset about (just don't yell AT anyone! that'll only make it worse)

23. Write a letter, email or text to someone

24. Create your own website or blog

25. Pop bubblewrap (love this one!)

26. Go for a drive

27. Go to the park...and go to the playground while you're there and play!

28. Try yoga or meditation

29. Play with clay or playdoe

30. Go buy some flowers, there's just something peaceful about fresh flowers

31. Make a list of blessings in your life..get specific like "i'm alive", "i had a great cookie today", "my mom loves me"

32. Make something, like jewelry or a dress

33. Tie dye..everyone loves tie dye :)

34. Read the Bible

35. Eat chocolate or candy or cookies! YUM!

36. Go get super dressed up...nicest dress, highest heels, curl your hair, put on lots of make up, set your camera on self timer and model! (and don't forget the fun music!)

37. Play a video game

38. Try boxing, even if it's just in the air at home or on the Wii

39. Search funny things on the internet, for example accidental inventions (I love that one! The results are surprising and cool!)

40. Do your nails

41. Smile at atleast 5 people (awesome idea Artist) and strike up a convo with someone at the store

42. Volunteer or plant a tree..do something good for someone else or mother nature!

43. Count to one hundred...and inhale and exhale as you count

44. Make a sock puppet..you'll end up with a little family of them..then put on plays for yourself..come on..sock puppets make you laugh every time!

45. Get a punching bag and use it!

46. Rip up a piece of paper

47. Get a big fluffy pillow, hug it; get a big comfy blanket, curl up under it; now cry your heart out

48. Make lists...lists about things you want to do, things you love, your fave books, movies, tv shows, songs, etc....buy a Listography book (you can find them on Ebay for really cheap) to keep on hand to give you ideas

49. Take a relaxing bath or shower

50. Read this list, or others, by time you're done, you probably won't want to hurt yourself anymore

If you have more ideas, please leave them as a comment. Any ideas are great ones and we all respond diffferently to each distraction so leave as many as you can think of!

Now, I ask that everyone who views this page will pray along with me for all self-harmers.

Prayer: Lord, be with each and every one of us today and every day. Show us all how much you love us. Remind us every day that you are with us, beside us. If we ever feel like we want to hurt ourselves in any way, please take those negative thoughts and fill them with positive ones. When we are down, bring us up. Fill our emptiness with your love. Be our light in darkness, Lord. And if we aren't the ones partaking in self-harm, please help us to help others during their dark times. Guide us through your word and allow us to change lives and save lives. In your name we pray, Amen.

Prayer List

• Charlotte: still grieving over the loss of her pet
• Ashlee: found out she'll have to go on medication to regulate her heart
• Drew: needs guidance and support
• Jon: needs guidance and love in his heart
• Missc: she's struggling through some things and needs a reminder that God is still on her side
• All self-harmers
• The unnamed

Don't worry, be happy!

Happiness resides not in posessions and not in gold; the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul.
Democritus

Never let life's hardships disturb you ... no one can avoid problems, not even saints or sages.
Nichiren Daishonen

Every artist was first an amateur.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The more difficulties one has to encounter, within and without, the more significant and the higher in inspiration his life will be.
Horace Bushnell