Self Injury

"We are male and female. We are artists, athletes, students, and business owners. We have depression, DID, PTSD, eating disorders, borderline personalities, bipolar disorder, or maybe no formal diagnosis at all. Some of us were abused, some were not. We are straight, bi, and gay. We come from all walks of life and can be any age. We are every single race or religion that you can possibly think of. Our common link is this: We are in pain. We self-injure. And we are not freaks."

I came across this quote on a facebook group tonight and it really touched my heart.

I was...am a self-injurer. I don't know if you've ever cured from it. I might be something I deal with for the rest of my life. I don't know. I haven't self-injured in probably a year, maybe a little more.

But the thing that got me about this quote is that I guarantee that 99% of the people I know don't know this about me and would NEVER guess it.

There is such a stigma around this issue. You hear 'cutter'

and a lot of people think: goth. dark music. moody. dark clothes. unpopular.

Or:  attention seeker. bored teenager.

Sure some may fall into that category, but not all of us.

I was the popular kid in school. I was the happy one. I was always laughing, always optimistic. I had plenty of friends. People liked me. And I was a cutter.

I didn't do it for attention.
I wasn't trying to kill myself.
I was not bored.

I had a crappy home life and no emotional support. I didn't know how to express my emotions and they came out by cutting. It was just the only way I knew how to feel and deal with what I was feeling.

The person who works next to you may be cutting. Your close friend might be. The teenager down the street. The dad at the grocery store. Your boss. The nurse. Anyone.

We never know what people are going through. Smile at everyone. Wish them a good day. Say thank you. Ask how someone is doing.  Simple words can do so much in someone's life. They may hold onto your kind words for hours, or days, or weeks, or months.  Just to know someone cared enough.