Self Harm Alternatives
Posted by nkaiya lakay little on Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Under: Recovery
- Say “I’ll self harm in fifteen minutes if I still want to” and keep going for periods of fifteen minutes until the urge fades
- Color your hair
- Count up to ten getting louder until you are screaming
- Sing
- Complete something you’ve been putting off
- Take up a new hobby
- Make a cup of tea
- Tell and laugh at jokes
- Play solitaire
- Count really high
- Surf the net for funny things
- Make as many words out of your full name as possible
- Count random things like tiles or sports
- Search ridiculous things on the web
- Colour coordinate your wardrobe
- Play with kid toys
- Go to the park and play on the swings
- Call up an old friend or a random person (:
- Go “people watching”
- Play a musical instrument
- Watch TV or a movie
- Paint your nails
- Alphabetize your CDs or books
- Cook
- Make origami to occupy your hands
- Doodle on sheets of paper
- Dress up or try on old clothes
- Play computer games or painting programs, such as photoshop
- Write out lyrics to your favorite song
- Play a sport
- Read a book/magazine
- Do a crossword
- Draw a comic strip
Knit, sew, or make a necklace
- Make ‘scoobies’ – braid pieces of plastic or lace, to keep your hands busy
- Buy a plant and take care of it
- Hunt for things on eBay or Amazon
- Browse the forums
- Go shopping
- Memorize a poem with meaning
- Learn to swear in another language
- Look up words in a dictionary
- Play hide-and-seek with your siblings
- Go outside and watch the clouds roll by
- Find out if any concerts will be in your area
- Make your own dance routine
- Trace your hand on a piece of paper; on your thumb, write something you like to look at; on your index finger, write something you like to touch; on your middle finger, write your favorite scent; on your ring finger, write something you like the taste of; on your pinky finger, write something you like to listen to; on your palm, write something you like about yourself
- Plan regular activities for your most difficult time of day
- Get out on your own, get away from the stress
- Go on YouTube
- Make a scrapbook
- Colour in a picture or colouring book.
- Make a phone list of people you can call for support. Allow yourself to use it.
- Pay attention to your breathing (breath slowly, in through your nose and out through your mouth)
- Pay attention to the rhythmic motions of your body (walking, stretching, etc.)
- Learn HALT signals (hungry, angry, lonely, tired)
- Choose a random object, like a paper clip, and try to list 30 different uses for it (other than self-harm!)
- Pick a subject and research it on the web – alternatively, pick something to research and then keep clicking on links, trying to get as far away from the original topic as you can.
- Take a small step towards a goal you have.
- Re-organize your room
- Name all of your soft toys
- Play the A-Z game (Pick a category ie. Animals, and think of an animal for every letter of the alphabet
- Have a lush warm bubble bath with candles!
- Do some knitting
- Do some house hold chores
- Write
- prank calls
- Omegle.com
- Dance
- Excersize
- Make a video of you doing dares
- watch kid cartoons
- Learn a new language (sign language is really fun!)
In : Recovery