There are 4 stages.
Curiosity. You get curious, you’re also feeling pent up emotions, so you grab it just to “see what it feels like” and that you’ll “only do it once” but that “once” turns into an addiction. An addiction you didn’t think you would ever have.
Relief. As soon as you do it, you feel better. You feel relief. It feels like when you get hugged by your favorite person, or when you finally finish that missing assignment. You start to think, “woah, I’ve missed out”
Regret. you feel regretful after you do it. You start to think, “why did I do that?” or “what if someone notices something is wrong” so you get scared.
Aftercare. As soon as you get your thoughts together, you clean up. You wipe away any evidence of that happening. You cover up anything that may give away that you just did something you shouldn’t have. Then you pretend nothing ever happened.
Those are the four stages. Then the cycle repeats itself, slowly killing you while you continue to feed the addiction.
Feb 21
Feb 21, 2026 at 11:21 AM UTC
There are 4 stages.
Curiosity. You get curious, you’re also feeling pent up emotions, so you grab it just to “see what it feels like” and that you’ll “only do it once” but that “once” turns into an addiction. An addiction you didn’t think you would ever have.
Relief. As soon as you do it, you feel better. You feel relief. It feels like when you get hugged by your favorite person, or when you finally finish that missing assignment. You start to think, “woah, I’ve missed out”
Regret. you feel regretful after you do it. You start to think, “why did I do that?” or “what if someone notices something is wrong” so you get scared.
Aftercare. As soon as you get your thoughts together, you clean up. You wipe away any evidence of that happening. You cover up anything that may give away that you just did something you shouldn’t have. Then you pretend nothing ever happened.
Those are the four stages. Then the cycle repeats itself, slowly killing you while you continue to feed the addiction.
I originally wrote this piece about self-harm, but I realized I can make this piece about any addiction.