Think about what emotion you are feeling when you want to self-harm and then look at other ways of dealing with that emotion.
If you are feeling angry, frustrated or anxious you probably feel like you have a massive amount of pent up energy (adrenaline) that you don’t know what to do with. Often when people feel like this they sometimes deal with it by being angry towards others or take it out on themselves so that they don’t hurt other people. An alternative is to get rid of this feeling is by doing some intense exercise such as running on the spot, star jumps or punching your pillow/bed. You need to do this for a few minutes until you feel out of breath or exhausted and you will find that it has reduced the adrenaline and your body and you feel a lot better. If you feel like this regularly you probably need to take up a sport to help control these emotions such as running, martial arts, team sports, boxing etc.
If you are feeling depressed or sad it may help to distract yourself from thinking about your problems. Spend some time with family or friends, read a good book, play a game on the computer/phone, watch something entertaining on TV, look at the funny clips on YouTube, listen to music.
If you want to focus on yourself – then be nice to yourself. Have a nice bath, paint your nails, and use relaxation techniques to focus your thoughts on nice things such as a happy memory or positive plans for the future.