For those who self-harm, it is important to feel supported. It is important not feel alone during a time of struggle and to be surrounded by people who care and want what is best for you. Sometimes, people aren’t that lucky. Sometimes, people are pushed away or leave a friendship because they are confused about the person’s behaviors or scared for them. Sometimes, feeling alone is all people have. No matter what, there are places to go where a self-injury support system is waiting. You just have to open your eyes, take a deep breath and look for it.

When you’re feeling down in the dumps, you stop believing in yourself. You start to think that you don’t have the strength to push forward or that no one will care if you do. We’ve all been there and felt this way, but some of us have found ways to climb the ladder out of that hole. For self-harmers, it tends to be a little more difficult to step on that ladder.

When it comes to self-harming, the importance of the marks tends to overpower the importance of relationships with reality. Well, at least this rang true to me during my difficult years. I had friends in high school, however, most of them I do not talk to anymore. Those I do still talk to I hope to never push away. I will admit it now, though. I pushed most of my friends away during the years I struggled with self-harm.

All self-harmers know that they are professionals when it comes to lying about self-injury scars (Explaining Self-Injury Scars to Others). The first time I made up a story was when a student asked me about the cut on my forearm before Chorale practice. I rolled my eyes and told her a story about how I’d tried to balance my cat on my arm and it hadn’t worked out too well. After that lie had been said, I remembered how she’d been around my cats before and she may have realized they had been de-clawed.

Whether you’ve had five cups of coffee or just finished a workout, many people with mental health issues struggle with sleep. Typically, there seems to be problems at both ends of the spectrum – either you can’t fall asleep or you can’t wake up. Sleep issues can come from anything, really. Changes in medications can trigger differences in sleep patterns and lifestyle changes can also be a factor. However, if some people do not get enough sleep, negative behaviors may arise because they can’t see the world around them clearly. Some of these behaviors may result in self-harm.

I made my last, intentional self-injury cut on the night of October 14, 2008. I was sitting in the bathtub, staring down at a bobby pin and crying about the news I’d gotten that morning. The news had been devastating and to this day, still leaves me in disbelief.

When it comes to counseling and therapy, almost everyone feels anxiety. Before stepping into an office for the first time, you feel unsure and stressed. Some people don’t think they need to be going to therapy and feel forced. Some people don’t believe that therapy will help and that it is simply a waste of time. Sometimes, it takes numerous sessions before any kind of opening up happens. One thing that is concrete about therapy is that it never hurts to try.

Everyone knows October as being Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Pink is everywhere – in stores, on commercials, on Facebook and everywhere else imaginable. It’s great that awareness for this disease has been marketed so well. However, did you know that September was Childhood Cancer Awareness month? Did you know that October is Domestic Violence Awareness month, National Down Syndrome month and, of course, Mental Health Awareness month? It’s important to recognize all of the important pieces of a month and not get overwhelmed with one color.

When you see a person who self-injures, it's important to speak up. Let me share a story with you. I volunteer for a camp called Camp Good Days and Special Times. I know I’ve brought this up in my past blogs, but for those who don’t know – Camp Good Days is a camp for children and families touched by cancer. I started volunteering for this camp when I was sixteen, during my difficult years. This place was one of the reasons I stopped cutting myself. Seeing children suffering through the disease I survived made me realize I had a reason to be happy and help them. However, there was one camper who really stood out in my memory. Not just because of her cancer, but because of her arms.

Whether you are studying for an exam or getting to that therapy appointment, motivation is key. Without motivation, actions wouldn’t be successful. You need motivation to become self-harm free or to lose that ten pounds. So what do you do when you lack the motivation you know you need to succeed?