I have not cut, scratched, pinched. bitten or burned myself, I hear you say.
“Nor do I have an eating disorder,” is your assertion while posturing to your well proportioned physique. Always feeling self assured as you confidently walk around stating ‘I do not self harm’.
BUT… is this really so?
Self harming isnt just synonymous with physical pain or with painful methods that can be tangible in measures.
Wondering….. did it occur to you that self harm can also be emotional in nature?
Those frequent over thinking thoughts you have or your wallowing in self deprecating emotions can cause you just as much harm, if not more, than the slice of a blade.
You see, a cut can be seen so when the wound is fresh we can assess it’s depth and severity and watch it heal.
However, self inflicted emotional pain cannot be seen so it becomes more difficult for it to be noticed by others. Hence we are able to hide how deep the wound is. We can even pretend it’s healing when it’s not.
It’s these kinds of self harm that allows us to easily slip into a phase of not wanting to feel better and subconsciously keep us aggravating such pain to derive ‘pleasure’ from it. Similar to the ‘pleasure’ that is obtained through physical wounding.
This is why emotional self harm can be like the wind, not because it’s not seen doesn’t stop it effects from creating havoc in a storm. Our ‘mental storm’ of life.
With that being said, I guess the next time we open our mouths to confidently state that ‘I do not self harm’, maybe we should stop and truly be honest with ourselves and ask the question:
Do I not self harm?
Leave a Reply