01 March - Self Injury Awareness Day (SIAD)

Okay, so I cut myself, what’s the problem with that?
I’m not hurting anyone else am I?  It all started with me using a pencil
sharpener blade at school.  I know better now I use a razor blade
(they’re cleaner and safer).
 
No, I’m not trying to kill myself, you see, when you say things like that
I know that you don’t listen to me or understand what I’m going through.
You haven’t got a clue have you?
 
“Why do I do it?”
 
I have all this anger building up inside me. There are things going on with me and I don’t know how

to deal with them. Stuff that I couldn’t tell anyone else about. I just wouldn’t

know where to start.

I bottle so much up in inside, I’m like a pressure cooker building up steam all the time. I just have to release it some way. Some people release it by screaming, shouting, or bullying others – I choose to cut myself to release the pressure.
 
I do it because I don’t know how to deal with all this emotional stuff inside in. When I cut myself I KNOW how to deal with the physical pain – and I’m in control.  
 
How does it feel?
 
Like I said, I feel like I’m in control. There are so many times that I don’t feel I’m in control, some one is controlling me, when I can go out, when I have to stay in and a load of other stuff.  When I cut, I’m in control!! When I bleed it release all the built up pressure in me – I can feel and see the release. It’s like I’m cleansing the badness out from me. I can finally relax…
 

What the worst thing for you?
 
This is a private thing. I don’t tell others, they just wouldn’t understand. I’m not ashamed of what

I do, but I do have to do it where I can cover it up so people don’t see.

What would help you stop?
 
I suppose if someone was to show me another way of dealing with all of these emotions. How I could be in control of my feelings and not let the pressure build up. 
This may be a fictional story but the problem is a very real one and affects many families.

I’d like to take this opportunity to point you to a 4 page ChildLine Information sheet on Self Harm. (page 4 has additional contact details of specific organisations who are willing to help).
 Here’s the link : http://www.childline.org/pdfs/info-self-harm.pdf

Share this information with others and maybe you’ll be the one to help members of a family have a more PEACEFUL life together.

Let me know what you think …  

Go in Peace,
 
The PeaceMan