The college transition is tough for a lot of people, moving away from home, meeting new people, taking harder classes. I had a tougher time than most. I was always shy and kind of reserved, which held me back once I began college. I also didn’t get along with my roommates very well. They both had personalities incredibly different from mine, and I would often feel like an outsider.

I started to get kind of down on myself.  I felt worse and worse every day. I came up with excuses not to hang out with friends, slacked a little on my school work and started losing a lot of weight. I planned on telling my parents when I went home for Christmas break, but I was afraid of what they would think, so it never happened.


Any amount of exercise can noticeably boost your mood.

Helps the body:

  • Improves sleep
  • Increases energy
  • Decreases pain
  • Strengthens immune system
  • Manages body weight

Helps the mind:

  • Stimulates blood flow into the brain
  • Lifts mood by releasing feel-good hormonesdoodleskate
  • Improves self-confidence with better fitness
  • Relieves pent-up muscle tension

Coping is...

...managing stress and anxiety. At some point in our lives, most of us will face times that are almost unbearable. Knowing how to use some key coping strategies can make a huge difference.

There are some specific things you can do to get through tough times, in addition to the exercising, keeping up your spirit and making sure you are getting enough sleep—and all the other self-care strategies

Research says:

  • People who were able to write about difficult events had better health and less depression. Writers' grades even improved, and they found jobs more quickly.
  • People who tried to work through problems by looking for solutions and taking control felt less depressed.
  • People who managed to stay positive, even when things were tough in their lives, were able to move on more easily and were less upset by difficult memories.

Why is it that we have to grow up, lose our innocence? What happened to the Peter Pan notion…Neverland…Wendy…

Oh well, looking in retrospect I guess that life would HAVE to be a predetermined path that we all take, because there is no way in hell that after the shit I went through in school, that self-harm (SH) was just a coincidence.

Well ok from the start…

What was it that lead you to SH? Was it a build up process? Or did you just one day, snap…and hence were changed forever? I don’t remember what was said,  I don’t know who said it…but I know I lost it. I had heard stuff and read stuff about people having committed suicide (mainly because of the inclusion of Silverchair lyrics at the inquest of the death of a teenage boy) and…I dunno, life just seemed so worthless and…well, not pointless exactly, just I wasn’t getting anything out of my existence as a whole.

What I can tell you is, the voices in my head - the screaming echoes - ‘No one wants you here’.

I found myself self-harming in order to try to purify myself (the same crazy thoughts used by “doctors” during the black plague) of these retched beast children in my head. It was a long tough struggle, and you know…I almost lost it…

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