Tightly holding on to ice cubes, or running them across where you’d usually self-harm. Holding on to them with the inside of your elbow or knee can give an intense feeling. This is a non-harmful form of pain. If you’re looking for an immediate alternative to self-harm, ice cubes might be a good substitute.
Bite Something Intense
Biting something like ginger, lemon or an onion can give you a really intense feeling. If you’re feeling numb or disconnected, and you’re using self-harm to try and ‘wake up’ or give you some sort of feeling, this is one to try!
You could also try something spicy, like hot sauce!
Yoga
Yoga is becoming more and more popular these days. While we’re not all as bendy as the people who do yoga tutorials on YouTube, it’s still something that you might find helpful. Yoga is about doing stretches and can even help to get you in shape. But there’s also a lot of focus in yoga on calming yourself down, letting go of negative feelings, and giving yourself some time and space, even in your busy life. You might find it helpful if you feel overwhelmed with life, or if you’re always looking out for other people more than yourself.
And don’t worry about pulling the curtains before you try yoga for the first time – we did.
Snap An Elastic Band
If you still want the sensation of causing pain to yourself without really hurting yourself, try wearing an elastic band around where you’d self-harm, and snap the band against your skin.
This might be helpful if you’re just starting to leave self-harm behind. Even if it just helps distract you for 5 minutes.
Make a Collage
This is one we do in our school workshops, and we flippin’ love it. It can be really helpful to just rip up a bunch of old magazines – it’s a great way to get your anger out! And then take those ripped up bits and stick them onto some card. Maybe then finish it off by adding a quote or a lyric you love.
If you wanted to be a bit more precise with it, you could try making a collage of things you like or stuff that inspires you.
Collaging is class because you’ve probably got all the materials you need already. Plus, you don’t have to be super artistic to still make something beautiful!
Learn To Play An Instrument
If you’re looking for a way to keep your hands and brain distracted, learning an instrument might be for you! Like learning any new skill, it’s gonna take time. But it feels great seeing the progress you make. Plus, if it’s challenging it means it’s gonna take concentration. And if you’re concentrating on how to play an A chord, you won’t be thinking about self-harm.
Once you get the hang of it, you can then start writing songs and using your instrument to express how you’re feeling. You could even start a band, and meet new people through music!
There are literally thousands of tutorials online to help get you started – all you need to do is decide which instrument you want to try!
Skateboarding
Skating is a great way of getting outside, and it’s actually a really good form of exercise! It can proper wear you out! And it feels so satisfying when you finally land a trick you’ve been working on for ages. A few people have also told us how skating just clears your head because you’ve gotta be concentrating on what you’re doing!
Take a look at some of the things we’ve learned from skating over the years.
When we spoke to Gnarwolves, they told us how skating is helpful to them!
