Don’t Let Self-Injury Scars Define You

Self-Harm, Scars and Some Stars

It’s been a while since I read a life-changing book. I mean, a book that keeps your mind going throughout the day and your emotions on edge. I read The Fault in Our Stars , by John Green, in less than two days and even though I’m a writer, I’m not a quick reader.

The book is about two teenagers with cancer who meet at a cancer support group and, you guessed it, begin talking. It may sound cliché, but the story is one that must be read. Even though I am a cancer survivor, you don’t have to have the disease to be able to relate to the idea of pain.

It may be different than self-injury pain, but it is pain all the same.

Make Your Mark on the World - Not on Your Skin

Throughout the book, one of the characters talks about how he wants to be seen as someone worth remembering after he dies. Death is a constant discussion throughout the book because the main characters are faced with it everyday.

When you’re faced with self-injury scars everyday, memories flood back from the moments those marks were created. You remember the thoughts that were racing in your mind before your skin was etched and the emotions following the self-harm behaviors. After five years without a cut, I still look at the few visible self-harm scars I have and feel flashbacks of emotions. These emotions are too often regret, sadness and misunderstanding.

Are those self-injury scars the marks you want to leave behind you after you’re gone?

Your Self-Harm Scars Don’t Define You

We want to be remembered as people who struggled with self-harm, but fought our way out of the hole we had fallen into. Like the characters in the book, they didn’t want to be seen as the disease they had. They wanted to be seen as the individuals they were.

The same goes for the battle against self-harm.

Leave a mark on the world that’s bigger, brighter and more memorable than the ones you’ve scarred into your skin. Give yourself the credit you deserve to move away from the negative marks and towards the ones that can change your life and the lives of others in positive ways.

Cancer is one hell of a disease and doesn’t give up without a deadly fight. Some win the battle and some don’t, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t fighting the whole way.

We want to win our battle with self-harm, no matter what it may be, or be remembered as someone who never stopped trying.

“That’s the thing about pain – it demands to be felt.” John Green sure knew what he was talking about when he wrote The Fault in Our Stars.

You can also find Jennifer Aline Graham on Google+, Facebook, Twitter and her website is here. Find out more about Noon through Amazon.com.