My experience with addiction was being addicted to self-harm any moment I experienced an inconvenience in my life. I first harmed myself when I was in 5th grade. I was influenced by one of my online friends at the time. I did it because my mother told me I was a liar when I got picked up early from school because I was about to pass out due to the heat. Since then, it has always been on and off when I self-harm. I would stay sober for a few months and then go back to it. It was a struggle not to show it to my parents because they believed I would do it for attention when they would see the scars. My friends would try to get me to open up, but it was a lot easier to feel physical pain rather than emotional pain. My self-harm first started on my wrists, which was the case for a lot of people when it happens. I got tired of wearing long sleeves in the hot Texas weather, so I started to do it on my thighs instead. This started around the age of fifteen. My father was abusive and I was no longer living with my mother because of a CPS case. It was hard for me to continue with life so self-harm was the only way I could tolerate it. Eventually, another CPS case occurred and I lived with my aunt after my father signed custody to her. I was dealing with trauma from abuse, rape, and sexual assault. I would use anything sharp I could find to harm myself. It went on for months and my aunt told me how she felt as if she was not doing enough. I felt guilty that my addiction was negatively affecting her after she'd done everything she could to help me. When my junior year in high school started, I began reading books. I finished the first book I read, It Ends With Us, within two days. I enjoyed the escape from reality and how comforting it was to go into my own world when I read. I then replaced self-harm with reading, or so I thought. In May of 2022, me and my boyfriend got into a big argument. It triggered certain memories from when I lived with my dad, and I was no longer sober. Since that day in May, I have not harmed myself. I am around eight months sober. When something happens. my first thought is not to harm myself, but I would be lying if I said I did not think about it at times. I would like to use my education to help others by attending to them. I want to be a nurse, and I want to help people who go to the hospital because they struggle with addiction. I enjoy helping people and being nice to others. My struggle with addiction has made me very empathetic and understanding toward others.