Already Cutting, STOP! Thinking
about it, DON’T START!
Cutting is not glamorous. It is not
something that should be used to cope with anything you’re going through, and
certainly should never be used as an attention-getting tactic. Cutting comes
with a whole list of serious consequences that will affect the rest of your
life, along with another group of relatively minor, but still burdensome
annoyances.
Forget shorts, short sleeves, tank tops,
bathing suits, or anything else you might want to wear in hot weather. You’ve
got to hide those scars, burns, or bruises that will be there for months or
years. So, plan on being really uncomfortable and sweaty in the summer. Anyway,
if you’re wearing sweatpants and a hoodie at the beach on a 90-degree day, who
do you think you’re fooling?
Cutters have to stock up on bandages.
There you’ll be anxiously standing in line at the pharmacy checkout counter
holding enough medical supplies to start a clinic for the homeless. People are
going to notice.
Cut too deep, burn too much and you’ll
end up in the emergency room—either that or risk dying. Once there, you know
they’re going to ask questions. Lie all you want, they know self-mutilation
when they see it. You’re going to be so embarrassed, like the cat that
swallowed the canary, when complete strangers figure out what you’re doing.
Your embarrassment will turn to humiliation when the medical staff start
stitching you up.
Figuring you did this to yourself, some
doctors won’t give you an anesthetic. If surgery is required, you’ll be days or
weeks recovering from it. If they think you meant to hurt yourself badly, you
can end up in the psych ward and you won’t be released until they consider you
stable enough to be alone once again.
Of course, the worst that could happen
is that you’ll unintentionally end your life. You might be high or drunk, cut
too deep, pass out, and since cutters are usually alone slowly bleed to death.
Almost as bad as you dying, your family and friends will be left to mourn your
passing and feel guilty that they didn’t know what you were doing and find a
way to help you. Your immediate family will be hit the hardest—you’ll leave
them in grieving agony because of your costly mistake.
Does that sound bad, here are more of the Mental & Emotional consequences
of cutting.
From the day you start, you’re peace of
mind will be gone. Every second, every minute, every hour of every day, your
thoughts will be consumed with either when you can cut next, or how you’re
going to hide your secret. Nothing else in your life will matter. And don’t
plan on ever being rid of your compulsive urges to cut because even after
you’ve stopped and gone through therapy, they’ll still be there haunting you
like Ghostface, from the slasher flick, Scream,
and that’s exactly how you’re going to feel—like you want to SCREAM.
I pretty much stopped cutting a year ago
and to this day thoughts of harming myself surface daily. So, once you start,
there’s no going back. If you’re already cutting, get used to obsessing about
it, like that bad summer pop song you heard a million times on the radio, and
now it’s on a permanent replay loop in your head.
Need other reasons not to cut, the
bullies and haters, they’ll take advantage of your weakness and vulnerability
and mock you for it. You’ll have to deal with assholes who will push you down,
slander and judge you for something you can’t control. Mix that in with a
general state of masochism, varying degrees of depression, and feeling like
you’re drowning in self-loathing, and that’s what you have to look forward to
as a cutter.
Still not convinced?
As soon as they hear what you’re doing,
you’ll lose even your best friends, forget holding on to a boyfriend or
girlfriend, and even family are likely to turn on you. If you’re close to any
of these people, it will cut worse
than your sharpest razor blade.
The moment they find out can be hell.
The person who finds out is likely to
yell at you, scream bloody murder, or break down balling. Family can freak out
to the point of literally and legally disowning you. It’s not likely you’re
going actually tell anyone, but know this, someone will find out your secret.
Bottom line, when it’s all said and
done, when your arms and thighs are riddled with permanent scars, when you’ve
alienated everyone who matters in your life, it will all have been for nothing.
Sure, you may have temporarily relieved some tensions, kept your emotions from
disappearing, even felt really alive for the first time in a long time, but it
won’t last.
Once the endorphin rush fades, like the
bad addiction that it is, the cutting will only leave you feeling worse than
ever—more depressed, more hopeless, hating yourself more. This downward cycle
will suck you into an endless rabbit hole of self-destruction.
The true irony is that sooner or later
you’ll either stop or die. Since few cutters actually kill themselves, if you
start you’ll be caught in a rip tide of addiction that will be next to
impossible to break away from. At that point the road to recovery will be
littered with deep potholes. Even if you successfully quit, the constant urges
are likely to cause a relapse and you’ll have to go through the whole process
all over again. Like the legendary Sisyphus who was condemned to push a bolder
up a hill over and over again for all eternity, if you start cutting you’ll be
risking a lifetime of struggle, pain, and disappointment.
Have I convinced you?
If you’re not cutting, don’t start. Don’t
become another victim of the vicious cycle of self-harm. Don’t fall for the
alluring illusion that cutting will be the answer to all of your problems. If
you’ve already begun, stop now. Like all addicts, if you are cutting you may
have to reach rock bottom before you get help, and believe me that is NOT a FUN
place to be.
Outline
THINKING OF CUTTING, DON’T
Serious Lifelong Consequences
Along with Burdensome Annoyances
You’ll Need Medical Supplies
Emergency Room Docs Will Know
You might Kill Yourself by Accident
EMOTIONAL EFFECTS
Peace of Mind Gone for Good
Never be Free from the Urge to Cut
Your Relationships will End
The Haters will Pounce
STILL NOT CONVINCED
The Moment they Find Out will be Hell
You Will Stop or Die – So Why Start
To Stop You’ll have to hit Rock Bottom
Not a Fun place to Be
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