This thread has been flaired as [Serious]. Please be aware that this marks it as a place for serious discussion only and that any unserious content in this thread will result in a removal, counting towards your [ban tiers](https://www.reddit.com/r/teenagers/wiki/rules#wiki_ban_tiers). If your comment does not contribute to the discussion in a serious manner it will be removed. Please report any comments that do not respect this rule.
Please read [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/teenagers/comments/1d5yygd/mod_impersonation_incident/) regarding a recent report about impersonation. Stay safe.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/teenagers) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Just remember to be the person to congratulate yourself the most! Real sense of accomplishment comes from within and can't be broken by outsiders. Keep it real and never stop! Ur doing good, be proud and be nice to you. Get yourself a treat or something to celebrate. It sounds like you already know what a great accomplishment you made!
Okay, ik this sounds crazy, but it can help you get more distracted. Find your fav ice cream brand in a supermarket, and buy every flavor you haven’t tried before
EVERY. FLAVOUR.
(Ok ok let’s set the limit to like 7 max)
And try them, and rate them out of 10 under this comment. (Also comment the brand u bought, I wanna know!) if u don’t like ice cream, just find something else, chips, non-alcoholic drinks, whatever
This randomly showed in my feed,
But I wanted to say that I'm proud of you.
I'm 36, I have a 16 year old daughter who self harms. I also did too around that age.
It is hard having all the feelings that come with being a teenager. And the anxiety caused by not knowing if you fit in, or where you fit in. Maybe you don't feel seen.
What I wish I had known at that age;
Your brain is still developing. It has not yet matured to be able to process complex emotional situations.
You are NOT broken. Your brain is just not processing things fast enough, leading you to become overwhelmed.
Draw, write, sing, dance.... Anything that helps you feel less overwhelmed. It DOES get easier as you get older.
And if you ever feel that you may hurt yourself. Reach out to someone. Don't try to suppress it. I can tell you from experience that makes it worse. If you are in the United States, the Suicide Hotline has a text line just text (or call) 988 and you can talk to someone.
Again, I am proud of you.
You are very lucky that yours did not scar. I very much regret mine and now I believe they are permanent. Everyone, please do not harm yourselves. It is not worth it, you are ruining your skin and will not benefit from it. I'm only 17 but mine really left bad scars that no amounts of skincare or whatever could heal it except for laser surgery. You would try to hide them really hardly for people not to notice and you can't even wear short sleeves. I had to wear bandages or something long to cover them up even during the heat which led me to have a heatstroke.
There’s a kid in my class who came in baked af one day (they didn’t catch him somehow) and he wore a short sleeve t-shirt. I didn’t see it for myself, but my friend said his arms were covered in scars. Like, COVERED in scars. I feel like there’s some kind of moral to the story but idk what it is.
Okay but legit why do people do this, and how can you, it hurts! Please explain your thought process I need to understand in case i need to help someone who’s going through this
Can't speak on everyone cuz everyone's experience is different but for me I would do it cuz I feel I deserve it, cuz I feel like a bad person and that I need to be "punished" in some way, and other times I do it cuz I have so much pent up emotions and feelings from being depressed thar I just lose control and just like do it? Kinda like a water bottle that's too full that gets cracks as a result because it can't hold all the water
Coping mechanism, it makes the brain focus on physical pain instead of your mental pain. Some people who SH have a hard time not thinking about their mental struggles and hurting themselves is the only way they found to help and it gets so addictive
For some, it feels like that's what they deserve, for some, it's a way of grounding yourself during a panic attack by bringing your mind and body together through pain. I can only speak from my experience but the psychological scars hurt more than the sharpness of the blade.
Hey, as a former cutter… it takes a lot….
Oh my goodness.. I’m getting emotional… awww. 🙁
Takes me back…
Especially when u don’t feel heard!
Hey… I Hear You! And I am proud of u. ❤️⚠️💯
I’m so proud of you!!! You can do this :)
If you ever need to talk don’t be afraid to message me, even tho I’m a stranger. I don’t know you, so the anonymity may help. :)
Glad to see it. Once you get older you will look back like what an absolute moron I was for doing that stuff . Some adults still have the scars and it looks awful. Keep your head up and prosper young Padawan
3 weeks clean is an achievement, you're doing good man keep on going. And when you do give into the urges again and relapse, know that you've done good going this long, and you shouldn't be ashamed because you're making progress to stopping entirely.
Its different for everyone, but In my experience its a case of emotional numbness from suppression, stress, or many other things. And sh is a route to physically feel that again, or a misguided way of signaling to others something is very wrong. While i never actually cut myself, I did come very close on multiple occasions.
U really doin this for attention now, I kept my mouth shut of the first few post you made, but this is just dumb, you're going to the internet for attention, I get it, I've gone through hard times but I didn't look for attention, I toughed up and got out of it
Not to be an ass or anything and generally just curious, but why do teens tend to hurt themselves?
Like, why?
I am asking just to acquire some knowledge.
It's it because life is hard or something?
Life after the teenage years is like 10 times worse, just so let you know.
Anyhow, take care and don't hurt yourself.
TLDR: I don’t have an answer. I cut myself for unrelated and admittedly much dumber reasons. Weird kid, I guess.
Being 100% honest, I cut myself a good bit for about a month, though usually like 3-4 cuts in a given day maybe one or twice a week, and, on my upper arm, a couple deep enough that I have visible scars years later, but didn’t do it for what I would assume to be the normal reasons for self-harm.
I wasn’t depressed or anything. It’s a really stupid reason, but I kinda just wanted to see if cuts start bleeding like they do in media (anime specifically, tbh). You know, the grazing slice instantly leaving a red line and all that. I just kinda used a bunch of kitchen knives to leave a few cuts on my upper arm, legs, and hands (only where they wouldn’t get in the way/be noticed as abnormal), but a couple on my upper arm went deep enough to scar.
I genuinely enjoyed the process, which is why it wasn’t a 1-day thing, but a multi-week thing. I’d just wait until both of my parents were out for whatever reason, clean some knives, and try different cuts.
Results: they do not, in fact, bleed like they do in anime. At least not at the depth I got to. The skin sorta splits like a weird miniature ravine, or skin chasm, and blood slowly wells up from the bottom. The first few cuts that I made deep enough to bleed actually took so long to bleed that I’d assumed I hadn’t cut deep enough, so I’d already started going deeper on other cuts before I realized the previous cuts were bleeding, albeit very slowly.
I don’t know, it was an interesting little series of tests. The most visible scar was the last one, a send-off cut that I made with the big chef’s knife from our knife set. After that, I never cut myself again. I’ve never revisited the idea.
Honestly still not sure why precisely I wanted to test it out, but it’s genuinely a fond point in my memory. Just a thing I decided to do, did, and could stop doing without regrets. The finality of just “ok, that’s all I wanted to see” was weirdly refreshing.
Just because your adult life is worse than your teenage years doesn't mean it's the same for everyone.
And about why, sometimes physical pain helps relieve the mental one.
Isn’t that just how your hand is supposed to look
My hand has the same shit on it and I I’ve only ever had 1 or 2 sharp object related injuries, neither of which were on purpose
Stay clean, i have some deep cuts from years of cutting myself and i regret it every day. Stay clean there are better ways to cope with the pain my friend.
3 weeks is actually a lot. I don’t know how addictions and co works, but all I know is that the first weeks it is the hardest. This is good progress!
But what car is this?
I feel very well happy and special im reaching out and inspiring people to show its possible to get out of this problem, ty btw yes its been quite a struggle but ive made it to july!
Three weeks is a big accomplishment. I still have some marks from when I did that. Sometimes when I get extremely stressed I get a feeling in my wrist that makes me want to cut it. I hope you don’t get those feelings while stressed in the future.
This thread has been flaired as [Serious]. Please be aware that this marks it as a place for serious discussion only and that any unserious content in this thread will result in a removal, counting towards your [ban tiers](https://www.reddit.com/r/teenagers/wiki/rules#wiki_ban_tiers). If your comment does not contribute to the discussion in a serious manner it will be removed. Please report any comments that do not respect this rule. Please read [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/teenagers/comments/1d5yygd/mod_impersonation_incident/) regarding a recent report about impersonation. Stay safe. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/teenagers) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Nicee, keep it that way 😊
Agreed great job keep up the good work
W progress, keep it going I’m proud of you :)
Ty kind stranger, it indeed is a w!
What does the "w" stand for?
It means win something to be proud of
win
Good job man❤️
Ty i appreciate it 😊
Don't hurt urself keep it up
IT IS ABSOLUTLY AN ACCOMPLISHMENT! IM SO PROUD OF YOU KIND STRANGER! LET’S GET TO A MONTH SHALL WE?! WOOPWOOP! 🥹🥳
BRAVO MY FRIEND 👏👏👏 KEEP GOING THIS WAY
Ty everyone, im getting teary eyed reading the replies of my accomplishment 🥹
Just remember to be the person to congratulate yourself the most! Real sense of accomplishment comes from within and can't be broken by outsiders. Keep it real and never stop! Ur doing good, be proud and be nice to you. Get yourself a treat or something to celebrate. It sounds like you already know what a great accomplishment you made!
Congrats internet stranger! Very proud of you for making it this far, keep it going!
I stubbed my toe earlier:(
I fell off the couch yesterday :(
I tripped on pavement 2 hours ago :(
So fucking proud of you. I've been sober of that since December, but damn would I love to go back to it tonight.
Stay sober, stay strong. trust me, it’s rewarding! set goals for yourself, and don’t let peer pressure get to ya. 💗💗
Okay, ik this sounds crazy, but it can help you get more distracted. Find your fav ice cream brand in a supermarket, and buy every flavor you haven’t tried before EVERY. FLAVOUR. (Ok ok let’s set the limit to like 7 max) And try them, and rate them out of 10 under this comment. (Also comment the brand u bought, I wanna know!) if u don’t like ice cream, just find something else, chips, non-alcoholic drinks, whatever
I’m going on 2 months myself, you got this bro!!
Proud of you keep going !
i ones tryed to kms the gun jamed and i saw that as a sign that i was needed
Then let us hope the gun will always jam ☺️
Let us hope the gun isn't acquired in the first place, always
Yeh, probably better
Me when I thought I lost everything and win Russian roulette as the only player
Hell yeah, I struggled with self harm too for a while but I’ve been clean for a few months :)
This randomly showed in my feed, But I wanted to say that I'm proud of you. I'm 36, I have a 16 year old daughter who self harms. I also did too around that age. It is hard having all the feelings that come with being a teenager. And the anxiety caused by not knowing if you fit in, or where you fit in. Maybe you don't feel seen. What I wish I had known at that age; Your brain is still developing. It has not yet matured to be able to process complex emotional situations. You are NOT broken. Your brain is just not processing things fast enough, leading you to become overwhelmed. Draw, write, sing, dance.... Anything that helps you feel less overwhelmed. It DOES get easier as you get older. And if you ever feel that you may hurt yourself. Reach out to someone. Don't try to suppress it. I can tell you from experience that makes it worse. If you are in the United States, the Suicide Hotline has a text line just text (or call) 988 and you can talk to someone. Again, I am proud of you.
You are very lucky that yours did not scar. I very much regret mine and now I believe they are permanent. Everyone, please do not harm yourselves. It is not worth it, you are ruining your skin and will not benefit from it. I'm only 17 but mine really left bad scars that no amounts of skincare or whatever could heal it except for laser surgery. You would try to hide them really hardly for people not to notice and you can't even wear short sleeves. I had to wear bandages or something long to cover them up even during the heat which led me to have a heatstroke.
There’s a kid in my class who came in baked af one day (they didn’t catch him somehow) and he wore a short sleeve t-shirt. I didn’t see it for myself, but my friend said his arms were covered in scars. Like, COVERED in scars. I feel like there’s some kind of moral to the story but idk what it is.
I’m sorry that happened . It wasn’t your fault! You must remember
Way to go man! Absolutely proud of you :))
Okay but legit why do people do this, and how can you, it hurts! Please explain your thought process I need to understand in case i need to help someone who’s going through this
Can't speak on everyone cuz everyone's experience is different but for me I would do it cuz I feel I deserve it, cuz I feel like a bad person and that I need to be "punished" in some way, and other times I do it cuz I have so much pent up emotions and feelings from being depressed thar I just lose control and just like do it? Kinda like a water bottle that's too full that gets cracks as a result because it can't hold all the water
Coping mechanism, it makes the brain focus on physical pain instead of your mental pain. Some people who SH have a hard time not thinking about their mental struggles and hurting themselves is the only way they found to help and it gets so addictive
For some, it feels like that's what they deserve, for some, it's a way of grounding yourself during a panic attack by bringing your mind and body together through pain. I can only speak from my experience but the psychological scars hurt more than the sharpness of the blade.
As a critically moist man once said: "YEAH BABY, THATS WHAT IVE BEEN WAITIN FOR"
Congratulations, and keep up the hard work.
Hey, as a former cutter… it takes a lot…. Oh my goodness.. I’m getting emotional… awww. 🙁 Takes me back… Especially when u don’t feel heard! Hey… I Hear You! And I am proud of u. ❤️⚠️💯
Keep it that way (this is a threat, i WILL force cause you to have a bit of hair in your eye till the sun explodes)
Don’t do it again for the rest of your life
My dyslexic self percepted this WAYYY DIFFERENT.
I'm not dyslexic and I took it wayyy different too
I still don’t know if if he’s saying keep hurting yourself till you’re dead Or the other way around
I’m saying don’t do it again for the rest of your life
👌👌👌👌
Keep dead until you're going?
Um, careful.
Ok 😔
congrats!!!!! proud of ya bud 👏👏
thats good keep going
keep going 🤍
Good job!
keep it up!
well done!
That’s amazing!!! Good job!!! I’m very proud of you
Good job dog 👍👍
Keep going young individual internet user I may not know you but live a happy life.
Glad to hear it 👍 Keep it up 🙏
I'm so incredibly proud of you!!!! 💓 Keep fighting to make it stay that way ☺️
Very nice! Keep it up! I believe in you.
Same!!! Im very proud of you. We can grow our streak together
Nice job
good work dude, keep it up 👏👏👏
Super proud of you dude!! Keep going ❤️
Congratulations!
Make sure you keep it that way, and you will have a positive future. Have a great day!!🙃
Hell yeah You're doing great. I hope you can keep it that way from now until forever.
If you keep it going you'll get a free cookie :)
Yay, if you ever think about relapsing talk to someone
happy for you man don’t do ts again 👍🏾
congrats bro! proud of you
LETS FUCKING GOOOO
I may not do self harm or know any one that does,but I'm glad that you're doing well so far.
I'm really proud of u man! That's amazing I am so proud I don't even know u and I am really proud
Good job dude I believe in you Also u do matter and there is someone who loves you
Youre doing awsome👍👍
Congrats!! Keep it up!!
Keep it up! Doing great! Get out there and live life!
CONGRATS!!!
omg good job!!!
Great job!!
Holy shit, definitely an achievement! Congrats!
W moment keep going👍🏻
Good job, try and keep going forever 👍
that is certainly an accomplishment, keep it up.
THAT'S AWESOME!!!!!!!!
Proud of you! You’re doing great 🤙🏻🤙🏻
I’m so proud of you!!! You can do this :) If you ever need to talk don’t be afraid to message me, even tho I’m a stranger. I don’t know you, so the anonymity may help. :)
Good job
great job !!! i don't think people realize just how hard it is to stop once you start, 3 weeks is great progress and takes a lot of work <3
Massive W
SO PROUD OF UUU💪🩷
Ayyyyy!
it's definitely an accomplishment
W post, congrats on that 🖤❤️🩹
We're all very proud of you
Keep it up!
Way to go!!!! YOUVE GOT THIS!!!! We all believe in you 🙏 💝
Proud of you my man
I'm proud of you! As someone who's at 4 months, it really is possible to stay clean. You got this 🫶
Keep going fr. I don’t know you but i love you, this is big💯
I'm proud of you.
Lets get it to 4 weeks! Good job!!
AHHH CONGRATS
i dont know u but im proud of you 🤙
Nice!
W congratulations bud!!!!
Good job!! We’re all so proud of you! :)
congrats your doing good keep it up nice
good for you 🍷( ˙꒳˙ )
3 weeks is a lot already! Always keep going, great job man!
Fuck yeah! Ive never dealt with self harm personally, but this is a massive w. Im proud of you, random internet stranger!
Nice job ❤️
As a self-harmer myself, im proud of you :>
You can even barely notice the marks there, it means they are almost done healing off, this is a nice thing and a good accomplishment, keep it up pall
YAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!! Keep it up!!!!
Let’s make it 3 months, then 3 years, and so on :)
Keep it up! Good work!
That’s awesome and I’m proud of you. I myself have only been free for a week and so desperately trying not to relapse. Stay strong! 💪
You can do it king! dont fall into the temptation
keep it up, internet stranger! im so proud of you :)
Today’s my one month mark, u got this!!
Glad to see it. Once you get older you will look back like what an absolute moron I was for doing that stuff . Some adults still have the scars and it looks awful. Keep your head up and prosper young Padawan
FUCK YEAH DUDE KEEP MOTHERFUKIN GOING
I'm proud of you dude. Keep up the good work!!!
2weeks for mine❤️
Nice!!
Good for youuuu 🎉🎊🎉👏
happy for you man :)
SO proud, i’m on 4! we can do this!!❣️
Congratulations ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
3 weeks clean is an achievement, you're doing good man keep on going. And when you do give into the urges again and relapse, know that you've done good going this long, and you shouldn't be ashamed because you're making progress to stopping entirely.
We making good progress here🗣️
Congrats!! keep it up!
Genuine question: Why do people hurt themselves? Why would they do that to themselves if they're already in pain some other way?
Good job
I don't have a lot of words but only you can save you from you. I'm proud of you🫂
I am genuinely proud of you. Keep it up 💪
Woohoo have some cake to celebrate 🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂
well donee, that is amazing! please keep it that way! you are good enough as a human
Fuck yeah dude, you're strong af
Good job! I’m going on almost a month myself! Glad you stopped!! Edit: yall nvm smth happened lol
Proud of you bro 👊🏻
Proud of you. You can continue this path.
I’m so proud of u bro, keep it going!
Make 3 weeks into a lifetime
Good job 👍 I just want to say that im proud of because it can be really difficult to leave that place behind. So good job doing that <3
Im Currently 3 years! So you can definitly do it!!!! Im proud of you OP. 💕 Youre doing great! Keep it up!
I'm kinda curious, why do people hurt themselves?
Its different for everyone, but In my experience its a case of emotional numbness from suppression, stress, or many other things. And sh is a route to physically feel that again, or a misguided way of signaling to others something is very wrong. While i never actually cut myself, I did come very close on multiple occasions.
Now make it four :3
Your arm looks way better like this, keep it up!
Absolute W Send tactical praise to OP
Probably shouldn't be commenting into a sub for teens as a thirtysomething bloke, but I'm proud of you and will provide headpats as requested.
ok
U really doin this for attention now, I kept my mouth shut of the first few post you made, but this is just dumb, you're going to the internet for attention, I get it, I've gone through hard times but I didn't look for attention, I toughed up and got out of it
.... Your post history is full of things you posted for attention.
Stop attention seeking
Congrats! Take yourself out on a date :)
Not to be an ass or anything and generally just curious, but why do teens tend to hurt themselves? Like, why? I am asking just to acquire some knowledge. It's it because life is hard or something? Life after the teenage years is like 10 times worse, just so let you know. Anyhow, take care and don't hurt yourself.
TLDR: I don’t have an answer. I cut myself for unrelated and admittedly much dumber reasons. Weird kid, I guess. Being 100% honest, I cut myself a good bit for about a month, though usually like 3-4 cuts in a given day maybe one or twice a week, and, on my upper arm, a couple deep enough that I have visible scars years later, but didn’t do it for what I would assume to be the normal reasons for self-harm. I wasn’t depressed or anything. It’s a really stupid reason, but I kinda just wanted to see if cuts start bleeding like they do in media (anime specifically, tbh). You know, the grazing slice instantly leaving a red line and all that. I just kinda used a bunch of kitchen knives to leave a few cuts on my upper arm, legs, and hands (only where they wouldn’t get in the way/be noticed as abnormal), but a couple on my upper arm went deep enough to scar. I genuinely enjoyed the process, which is why it wasn’t a 1-day thing, but a multi-week thing. I’d just wait until both of my parents were out for whatever reason, clean some knives, and try different cuts. Results: they do not, in fact, bleed like they do in anime. At least not at the depth I got to. The skin sorta splits like a weird miniature ravine, or skin chasm, and blood slowly wells up from the bottom. The first few cuts that I made deep enough to bleed actually took so long to bleed that I’d assumed I hadn’t cut deep enough, so I’d already started going deeper on other cuts before I realized the previous cuts were bleeding, albeit very slowly. I don’t know, it was an interesting little series of tests. The most visible scar was the last one, a send-off cut that I made with the big chef’s knife from our knife set. After that, I never cut myself again. I’ve never revisited the idea. Honestly still not sure why precisely I wanted to test it out, but it’s genuinely a fond point in my memory. Just a thing I decided to do, did, and could stop doing without regrets. The finality of just “ok, that’s all I wanted to see” was weirdly refreshing.
Also, I didn't go through this as a teen hence why im asking. I feel like ripping my pulse off now in my adult years, tho
Just because your adult life is worse than your teenage years doesn't mean it's the same for everyone. And about why, sometimes physical pain helps relieve the mental one.
Yay
Well , 19 years and not hurting myself 🙌
Yay
Isn’t that just how your hand is supposed to look My hand has the same shit on it and I I’ve only ever had 1 or 2 sharp object related injuries, neither of which were on purpose
Im actually jealous that I don’t see any scars on your skin. Keep it that way.👍
Congrats man! I know how hard it is. I’m only 4 days clean. I’m so proud of you!!
Bloody good job, mate! We send our congrats from down under 🇦🇺
Good job 👍
way to go dude !!
good shit bro I’m proud of you, we all are. i’m glad you took this step
I'm so proud of you! I know how hard it is and you are fantastic ♥️♥️♥️ I'm 2 days clean now🙏 If you ever need to talk about it I'm here⭐
I have a friend that cuts herself, It's terrifying. keep going, It's an awesome goal
Stay clean, i have some deep cuts from years of cutting myself and i regret it every day. Stay clean there are better ways to cope with the pain my friend.
So proud, you can keep on staying clean 🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶and just realize you aren't alone in this fight
3 weeks is actually a lot. I don’t know how addictions and co works, but all I know is that the first weeks it is the hardest. This is good progress! But what car is this?
Wish I was you
BIG W ENERGY
WOOOO! Congrats! 3weeks must be a lot for you, so this took a lot of dedication and resilience, so congratutlations, keep it up!
I feel very well happy and special im reaching out and inspiring people to show its possible to get out of this problem, ty btw yes its been quite a struggle but ive made it to july!
Proud of you :D
On a lifetime streak
Three weeks is a big accomplishment. I still have some marks from when I did that. Sometimes when I get extremely stressed I get a feeling in my wrist that makes me want to cut it. I hope you don’t get those feelings while stressed in the future.
Nice job, I wish you the best of luck keeping it this way
🥲🎉👏 I wish I could stay sober I'm about 3 days clean but prob not for long
Good job dude… as someone who has the same type of thoughts you’ve inspired me.
Hey you’re doing amazing <33 i’m almost 2 years clean, and i promise you it gets so much easier🫶🫶. always remember how beautifully strange life is
Good job! 👏😁
Driving a Nissan rogue would also make me hurt myself lol jk jk
Congrats, let’s shoot for four
You reminded me that the only reason I'm clean for a month is cuz I'm lazy Good job stay clean :)
You are really brave!!! GOOD JOB!!! can't wait till week 4
Yayyy (I feel u I’m 3months clean and that’s crazy cause I’m bipolar)
Super stoked for you. I know you can keep it going. Bet it feels great to know you can do it now.