A Personal Account of Self-Injury

When Wedge first suggested I might like to write a personal account of self-injury, I had mixed feelings. I'm a writer and I love writing, but to write about myself, and especially something so personal, I wasn't too sure. I added the task to my to-do list and left it for a couple of days.

I think my initial reluctance stemmed from a feeling that as a public face of LifeSIGNS, I shouldn't be admitting to my own emotional distress. I actually worried that people might think less of me if I admitted my own weaknesses.

But then I realised how silly that was; I am passionate about LifeSIGNS and I'm passionate about self-injury awareness, so surely I had to be prepared to talk about my own personal struggles with the urge to self-injure and the emotions behind them.

So I set to work, and found that the words just flowed. It's not my best writing by far, but that doesn't matter because this was written from the heart, and the gramatical errors just add to the 'reality' of the piece. I didn't want a clinical article stating facts, I wanted a personal account that people could connect with and relate to, and I hope I've achieved that.