Content Warning: Self-harm

The aftermath of an event is something which has always deeply interested me.  The physical trace of an event leaves us a puzzle with too many pieces missing to complete, though just enough to provide us with a tantalizing glimpse of what happened.

Self-harm has become a very literal metaphor for me in this sense. I struggled with various mental health issues for a significant portion of my life; however, my memories of this time now feel incongruous with the person who I now am, as though the pieces don’t come together to form the person who I am now.  I can’t picture the transition from past to present, only who I am now, and bits of who I was then.  The aftermath of an event is something which has always deeply interested me.  The physical trace of an event leaves us a puzzle with too many pieces missing to complete, though just enough to provide us with a tantalizing glimpse of what happened.

Self-harm has become a very literal metaphor for me in this sense. I struggled with various mental health issues for a significant portion of my life; however, my memories of this time now feel incongruous with the person who I now am, as though the pieces don’t come together to form the person who I am now.  I can’t picture the transition from past to present, only who I am now, and bits of who I was then.