Alternatives to Self-Harm.

Few of these ideas are the pleasant, comforting sort. When I'm ill enough, when I reach the frustration and despair point at which hurting myself seems like a possibility, I've got to push hard through that burn I feel physically as well as mentally.

These ideas can help you Decrease and Demonstrate Your Pain in Safe Ways. You deserve relief and expression.

• Tell someone. This one is vital. Clarify if self-harm only a thought or if you are actually unsafe. 
• Then, arm wrestle with him or her. Or ask for a back-popping bear hug. You'll be safer, and you'll use up some of avalanche of terrible feelings. 
• Chop off your hair, shave your head, or dye your hair a dramatic or unnatural color. I cut and dyed my hair when something terrible happened, and I knew I'd never be the same person. It was outlandish and kind of brutal, but it calmed my impulses and expressed the changes in me.
• Paint nails a harsh color. Try black with red glitter.
• Get an extra piercing. Maybe staying with the ears is best. A momentary pain may jolt you into remembering that pain is not going to help.
• Go to the dentist. Ouch. 
• Wear too much eyeliner. Black. You'll feel strange and mysterious.
• Run. Especially if you don't run. The lung and muscle burn may, in just a sprint, clear your mind.
• Write an well-deserved angry letter. Don't send it.
• Watch a scary movie. It's likely to distract you until the worst calms down.
• Do abs exercises until you're almost ready to throw up. 
• Take a very hot but not too hot bath.
• Write, pushing hard with the pen or pencil. Almost rip the page.
• Tell someone else. The people near you need to know. They need to be ready.