I saw a couple of posts about scars and just want to give a huge shoutout to the people here who cut or maybe used to and are feeling insecure about what it left behind.
I want to start by explaining that I think of life as war on a microscopic scale. It's rude and dirty and you do what you have to – and you know what? Some of those things are going to leave marks.
The point being: I don't understand how anyone could see scars, self-inflicted or otherwise, as ugly.
They are not ugly. They tell your story. Maybe they're there because you did something you think is stupid now – but that only shows how you've changed and grown. Maybe they're there because of something unfortunate that happened to you. Well then, they're proof that you made it. They're the souvenirs of your campaigns. The battles you've fought are written right there on your skin.
Cutting? I think those pink, raw scars say: I'm a fighter and a survivor, I am trying to move on and I will get there.
And if the scars are old, they're telling the world: This is someone who's made it. You've struggled and resisted, you were in a bad place before but you're past that, now. And if it was a bad place of your own making – then it sort of says, no man's land, doesn't it? Reminds you not to go back there.
I'm under no illusions about the impression my scars give other people. I won't say I don't sometimes find it incredibly awkward (thankfully most people I've met have the good grace not to call attention to them). I do, however, very much see them as a badge of honor. I've been quite intent on dying; there was no guarantee that I was going to be here today. I fought tooth and nail to be where I am, and I quite like that there's something on my skin which says that.
Remember your scars don't say you're messed up. They show, most importantly, that you tried to get past it, in whatever ways you had left to you. You are braver than you believe and stronger than you seem. Not everyone will get that from your scars, but there are people who will. Don't hide forever – you deserve better.
