What are your favorite coping techniques?

[December]

I was just curious as to what everyone does to avoid self harming. I also thought it'd be a good way to share things that work for us with each other.

So what do you do to avoid or instead of self harming?

Personally, I listen to music, sleep, write, or if it's really bad hold ice where I would normally cut myself

[Travis Is Losing It]

personally i like drawing. i'm not good imo cause like my cousin is a professional and friends are amazing. but its good coping technique. ill spend all night drawing one thing and just blank out and forget about the world.

[Love.Hate]

I either blast music out really loud and sing along.. or paint my nails... or something of the sort to keep my hands busy.

[Kaius]

I don't have a favorite, i just have what works really. When i get urges they usually come on quite strong so i do something to keep myself physically busy. If i can i tend to go out running. Usually for so long I can't physically move anymore. Others i try to keep my hands busy so i tear up bits of paper into squares. Though the worse the urges the bigger the things. T-shirts and pillow cases for example. Music helps as well, mostly. I used to keep my blades in a tin with photos on it, but when i did eventually cut it made it worse for me, guilt so i ended up cutting worse than I would have otherwise.

[Fiction]

I tend to use my computer more than anything else really. I talk to people when I have urges.

I sometimes use an elastic band if they're really bad.

[love is louder]

Running is probably my best even if i still feel like it most of the way i some how forget about it.
other times i draw, drive and iv just bought a new play station so ill nerd that till im two hungry to play :)
i also write but that doesnt make me feel better i just find im a lot more creative when im trying to fight it

[FullyAlive]

To be honest I'm pretty bad at distracting myself.
But I'll listen to music, really loudly and sing/scream along till I've blocked everything out. Sometimes I'll write. Sometimes talking to people. And occasionally elastic bands help or at least put it off a while longer.

[snowblinded]

Distractions used to rarely work for me. Once it's in my head that I'm going to it's usually very hard to avoid and eventually I'll end up doing it...

But one thing that's really starting to help is music. I just blast it really loudly and sometimes that works :)

[Wicked_Syn]

Take long walks. Like 5 miles long.

[bambino]

what works for me:

I ring my friends
sit with my dog
listen to music

[Life_On_The_Line]

Listening to loud music or talking to a friend normally works for me.

[PoisonedRazorBlades]

I used to clean my room, or rearrange the furniture or take posters down and replace them with new ones. I've also been know to read since I can easily lose myself in literature. Music sometimes helps me, but there are times when it made me worse. My strangest way of coping was that sometimes I would just sit and cry and hold onto the small box in which I kept my blades hidden. I didn't use them, but I guess I got comfort from just knowing that they were there. I still do and I haven't cut in months.

[bambino]

welldone morgan thats great! will be trying some of your techniques, especially reading sounds like it would help

[PoisonedRazorBlades]

Reading is the technique that I use the most often, because as I said, I lose myself in it and I can happily read for hours. :) I've found that talking to friends helps too, but I don't do it that often cause I feel like I'm bothering them.

[Infidelitas]

I have yet to find out.........

[Sith Lord 13]

Honestly, I talk to people, mostly friends I met from this site. I talk to them and get them to distract me.

[December]

I forgot about reading, that is a really great way to forget yourself :)

[LifeisLife]

I usually cant anyways because I do swimming and you have to take your shirt off for that and then people would obviously notice but when i can i certainly do and when i try not to for swimming i either do homework, extra homework, write poems or watch a lot of movies.