I’m sorry about what you’re going through =/. My mom gets under my skin until I bubble over with emotions I keep hidden inside and need to release. We love each other, just can’t live together.

Working out for me is medicine. Being out in the sunshine getting sweaty and breathing hard. The warm up ends when the endorphins take my initial pains away, and when I’m done I’m done. Along with everyone else I’ve tried working out for looks or other reasons that didn’t hold intrinsic value. There’s medicinal benefit in just being human and doing enough to reap the rewards. Muscle will come with practice and you’ll eventually lose weight if you stick to it, but you need to stick to it for the purposes that keep you going. Gym culture and the internet stripped the essence away from exercise, and if you’re not competing in sport, alot of what they say is ridiculous. Ease your way into your exercise and be simply mindful of what it does for you mentally and physically. Not everybody has the genetics to become a body builder. Body building in itself is a sport and shouldn’t be general fitness advice. The best you can do is go in with little expectation and simply enjoy being human, reaping the instant gratification of what it does for you in that moment. For me, it’s more labor type workouts, not having a “perfect” body. Exercise is the umbrella term that branches into infinite possibility, and they don’t always carry over. Body builders in a gym setting have a hard time with sandbags and vice versa. Choose your joy and keep pursuing it. Keep it simple.

Well I can start this by stating you’re valid in what you feel. Being left out of a friend group for something like a wedding is not something to bat an eye at. You’re feeling the natural emotions and responses anyone would have in a similar situation. The most I could ask for a situation like this is recognizing what is happening, and if these people are truly there for me like I am for them. You could almost turn it into a test within yourself. Are these people who they say they are, for me, or not. You must be young because you talk about university. I wouldn’t throw the baby out with the bath water just yet, but figure out what these people are all about. You could not be invited to the wedding, but with apology you could make a great friendship, or you could be invited to the wedding, and the friendship fade in minute time. Whatever happens, you’re going to be okay and become wiser in the process.

Hey! Fellow self harmer here! I haven’t self harmed in years, but I used to hit myself too. I also self harm in other ways in forms of self sabatoge. The journey to healing is slow sometimes unfortunately. I don’t know if you have spotify, but what I do now when I get into the headspace where I self harmed is to put some angry music on and do something to release the energy. Honestly the angrier the better. Find some music that speaks into what you’re going through. Citizen Soldier is a good band that’s all about mental health. When my anger is bubbling over, I put metal on, go outside and physically release energy through exercise, or create disturbing art by scribbling my emotions on a page. After I feel the cathartic release, I wind down and chill. I’ll put on some positive music or stuff I like and relax into a more positive energy. In my experience it took time for me to get through what I was going through. Maybe find your own healthy way of cathartic release. The important part is to recognize when the catharsis is done and it’s time to relax and set boundaries for your time of peace. Self harm is definitely addicting because of the endorphins and everything else involved with it. Maybe channel that emotion into something less harmful. It took me time to get through it and I don’t judge anybody for doing what they need to in order to survive the complexity of our minds. Next time you want to self harm, try putting on some cathartic music and let your mind go there. There’s better days ahead, I promise.