Advice: don’t start

My thing is, if you insist on cutting yourself, i think it’s a bit ridiculous to be surprised by the way people react to your scars. You know where scars come from. You know cutting yourself causes them. You know people react one way to “accident” scars, or “battle wounds,” and entirely differently to what is often readily observed as “self harm.”

How is anyone supposed to perceive a being that is consciously and intentionally destroying itself?

And if you have a problem with people reacting that way, why would you purposely scar yourself, and then complain that people act weird about your scars?

You’re causing your own problem, by making a non-trivial and non-essential choice. You don’t have to do it, but you are, and then lament the consequences. Don’t like the result? Stop choosing the cause!

I won’t deny that i’ve gone on a few self-destructive bents in my day… but at some point you realize that there is absolutely no need to damage yourself; just living life will do quite enough of that for you, without your permission, and you’ll be lucky just to stay healthy enough to even survive.

And i also agree with what SB said: “…it’s such a melodramatic act that people have convinced themselves is something worth pity and especially self pity.”

But at some point, you’ll encounter people who will have zero sympathy for someone who consciously chooses to intentionally damage themselves. “You did that to yourself.” Is what they’ll say. And if you’ll do that to yourself, what’s to stop them from thinking you might do something harmful to others? “Slippery slope.” It freaks people out, and they’ll want to distance themselves from you… but often not before criticizing your decision-making abilities and low self-worth.