Reasons to stop?

[newsuse]

I just wondered if anyone would share their reasons for stopping/wanting to stop with me cause I think it might help me?

People around me are pressuring me to stop and I know it is because they care about me etc. but I don't think they get how hard it is to actually do I have days where I do want to stop but I also have days where I really can't see myself without it. I know that there is no way I will have to strength and willpower to do this if it's for someone else so I need to find a reason if that makes sense...

 

[BlueStarSkyMonkey]

i don't want to be ruled by this bad coping mechanism addiction anymore. It's been 12 years of this and it's time that i break free.
i want to love myself, i'm trying hard..it's so hard. I want my parents to be able to sleep at night knowing that i'm not in the other room hurting myself. I don't want to see their faces, their sadness when they come and see me in the psych hospital. I don't want to go back there.

i know what you are going through, but we just have to be strong and keep fighting. If you ever need to talk feel free to PM me. *huggles you*
<3

 

[smoke570]

God gave you a perfect body,<staff edit> so don't worry! You also need to stop hurting it because really, your body is just on loan from God, and he wants it back for when Jesus comes back, y'know!

Hope this helps!

 

[Everlasting33]

For me, I stopped cold turkey after about a year of self-harm. The reason for it was because (like the previous poster said) it was a bad coping method and it was keeping me in pain, not freeing me from it.

For years I said I wanted to be free of pain but yet I would engage in self-defeating behaviors that was the opposite of what I desired (formal name for this is cognitive dissonance).

Do it to be free. To be free of the pain and the control. Joy and peace will be yours if you work at it

 

[Sam Emo Christian]

1. God doesn't want me to.
2. my friends want me to stop.
3. it worry's and disappoints my boyfriend.
4. I don't want people to judge me for it.
5. I want to help people struggling with it.
6. I don't want to wear only certain clothes to hide things.
7. I don't want my family to find out
8. I want to be able to say im done.
9. Health risks
And I have many other reasons

 

[TheMainException]

God doesn't want you to do it because he hurts for you...he loves you and hates that you hurt. He wants to make you feel better...this is a hard thing to realize...it's not like..."Oh, Jesus loves me, all better!" but it's true...he's there holding you in the darkest of moments.

 

[Antonin]

At the time I had a friend who had been cutting for two years. Each time she cut it got deeper, and deeper. I watched her life slowly slip away. It seemed like every other day she was in the emergency room, or freaking out because she should have gone to the emergency room. All the doctors there knew her by name, and treated her like crap. Her friends and family stopped taking her seriously. She was in and out of mental hospitals. It ruled her life.

I could feel myself slowly spiraling down the same road my friend was taking. I remember thinking, 'That's going to be me. If I don't stop, soon I'm going to be standing in her shoes.' The thought scared me. It was enough to help me stop. At first I only planned to 'take a break', but a few months later I went on a mission trip where God sort of changed my plans, and helped me break clean for what I hope is forever.

 

[Winter]

Three things made me stop:

1. Honestly - I stopped for vanity. I had so many scars on my arms (and still do, unfortunately) - I just didn't like how they looked and I didn't like having to explain them to people all the time. Now that I'm in my 30s and work as a professional, I am self conscious about it. I don't want my peers and colleagues noticing them.

2. Guilt. I started realizing that it was hurting my mother. I realized that I had to start thinking that my actions were impacting those around me. It wasn't "just about me." I needed to take responsibility because I knew I was hurting and worrying others.

3. Age. I stopped around age 25 which is the usual age that self harm begins to die down from a regular basis. I had a few random episodes - but never like on a regular basis.

All 3 reasons just kind of converged at the same time. I was growing up and becoming more aware of the world around me. I had responsibilities.

But I regret it until this today. I regret hurting my parents, especially my mother. And I regret having these unsightly scars on me. Back then I had no idea that these scars would give me this regret.

 

[Tenebrae]

1. It was getting addictive, I was having to do more and more damage to get the same feeling of relief.

2. I was loosing time and self harming, which always made the self harming alot worse.

3. It is a seriously maladaptive way of coping and I wanted to try and deal with stuff the way normal people did.

4. The crux of it is, that its all very well and good to want to stop for other people, however I needed to get to the point where I wanted to make the change for myself, not just because other people wanted me to stop this freaky behavior.

5. For me it was often a case of taking it an hour at a time. I would not SI for one hour, then I would try and not SI for the next two hours, if I achieved that I would try and not SI for half a day, then a whole day, then two days, then four days, then a week and so on.

Sometimes I hit a speedbump, and SId, however before long there was more and more time between each period of SI. I went four years without SI, and about 18 months ago I slipped up. I had a recent slip up a couple of weeks ago.

Change is possible.

 

[Jayangel81]

I know some of the reasons was:

God loves me and I am tired of hurting Him

my family is very hurt by the situation.

while it doesnt bother me much at least now, having scars all over me can be quite a reminder...there isnt a day that goes by that I do not see the scars all over my arms

 

[dreamchildattucus]

my bigest thing is short sleves i hate long sleaves! and my mom thinks i am so weird because i am whereing a hoddie and shorts (i think she knows something but wolnt say) i have this hope that my scars will dissapear but i doubt all of them will go away i hate hot wearter cant wait for this winter in minnesota! any way hope this helps!