Self-Injury Awareness Day

Today, March 1st, is Self-Injury Awareness day. I want to talk about this because I know that there are plenty of people out there who get angry and confrontational when they hear about a friend who cuts/burns/etc., and this is not a good reaction to self harm.

Self-Injury is NOT a suicide attempt or a way to get attention. A lot of people don't know why they do it. In fact, a lot of people don't even know that they DO it. People who look down on it, have probably done it themselves, and will do it again without even knowing, because it is a coping mechanism. Self harm does not have to be cutting or burning. Maybe you are in an abusive relationship. To cope with emotions you feel you can't express, you stay in it. You let yourself stay in a situation where you are physically hurt. You think that you are too scared to say that you are leaving, but really, you might be scared of losing the pain that you use as an outlet.

I speak from personal experience. I used to cut myself. Later, I would rub dirt and dust into my cuts. I have stopped since, and have talked to friends and family, but when I did cut, kids at school would laugh about it. They would yell about it. They would encourage me, or they would JOIN me, or they would get angry and tell me I was being selfish. Selfish! What is selfish about trying to cope with emotions you don't understand or are afraid of?

I had a friend who was a good christian, and was very against self-harm. Then she started to do it. She would scratch the top of her hand. Everybody thought she was just trying to get attention or be cool, after all, she started after seeing other people do it. I didn't say anything about it. I didn't understand at the time what I was even going through, and I knew that I didn't need to attack her about what she was going through.

I once found a couple of dirty, rusted box cutter blades out in the street. I took them home and put them in my windowsill. A friend of mine asked to borrow them. I cautioned against them, but didn't stop him. Two weeks later he returned them, but that time I felt bad. I didn't want to provide weapons that could seriously kill my friends. I threw them away after that. That time I wondered if he was trying to commit suicide. He knew the potential of those rusted blades. You don't always know if self-injury isn't a suicide attempt, but I don't think he would have known it himself.


Please read more about self-harm here, and try to help those you may know that hurt themselves. Don't knock them. You might have done it yourself.