How did you stop cutting

[nonlineargoblin]

I stopped cutting myself about a week ago. It was a really stupid habit I picked up about 3 months or so ago, for me cutting myself was a way for me to let my anger out. I stopped it was simple for me all I had to do was take the knife out of my room and find a better way to cope with my anger. I know for some people its not that easy, sometimes it takes a lot of courage to stop cutting yourself and find a better way, but there comes a day when you finally find that courage and stop. If you found a way to stop cutting yourself post a comment on here and you might be able to help someone else quit.

[Whiskey-Lullaby]

Snapping a Rubber band on my wrist helped me.
I remeber I saw Elie do it on Degrassi (the tv show) and it thought I'd give it a try.
It works, but it still self harm, sometinge I have to snapp it very hard in order to stop the urge to cut.
But still, it's less dangerous and there is no scars.
And i feel the urge to self harm is less frequent than when I cutted, even though I'm not feeling better.

So yeah, I guess it could be a way to deal with it, it worked for me anyway.

[BlueJaysGirl]

i use the rubber band method...
i also try and write down what i am feeling :)
or i do things to distract myself:)

[nonlineargoblin]

That's good guys, the rubber band thing is pretty common alternative to cutting, however its not a solution but its better than cutting.

[Syvelocin]

I released all negative thoughts about cutting. I don't know how well it would work for others, but I basically told myself it was completely 100% okay and morally fine to cut myself. I said to myself that any time I wanted to cut, I could do so. There's something about removing that taboo nature that did it for me. Maybe it was the fact that I no longer thought about it so much, because I truly believed whether or not I self-harmed that night, that it would all be okay. But I couldn't stop until I didn't need and didn't want it any more. Not until I finally figured out my future self, the person I want to become, doesn't in fact self-harm. I had been very confused whether or not she self-harmed for a long time.

I still have an issue with the sight of my blood, but the most I'm cutting is once every 6 months. No clue on how long it's been since I routinely SIed, something between one and two years maybe? Honestly, I don't pay attention to it, it just faded from my life and doesn't even exist except for a couple really bad nights when it pops into my head again. But a few slip-ups here and there is expected. That's the thing about giving yourself irrevocable permission to SI.

Oh, and the other thing to point out is I stopped after I left school, which I think has everything to do with it. I've left my teenage-self behind, far behind, and none of that matters any more. Never been happier.

[Sudds3]

I did a really bad job at it, i stopped about a week and a half ago. And now whenever i feel like cutting i bite the inside of my lip. Lets just say its like someone went in there with a switchblade. Buti have to stop so i go to PE without a huge bandage on my arm covering everything up. Now its just scars that i can cover with makeup

[Megson]

I have a few really long clean-streaks, but I don't know if I can say that I have fully quit SH yet.

But the way I've done it is I set goals for myself. I tell myself that I won't cut at all until I reach a certain special day (like a holiday, birthday, special event, concert, anything at all). If I make it, I set a new goal for myself. After a while of this, I don't have to keep making goals because I stop getting really bad urges. It has worked for me several times doing this.

[nonlineargoblin]

thanks for posting everyone everything you guys are posting are helping people or at least giving people hope to quit.

[Transient]

I haven't cut in three years. It was a habitual, nightly affair. I did it just to do it. I knew I needed to stop. One day, my dad and I were having a small fight (meaning he was trying to talk me down from an anxiety attack and I wasn't having it) and I pulled my sleeves up and showed him what I was doing to myself.

After that, my dad took care of everything. I started going to talk to someone about it and eventually fell out of the habit. I learned proper coping techniques, and those techniques have made it so I never feel the need to cut and burn myself anymore.