T.I.’s daughter Deyjah Harris took to Instagram with a soul-baring message about her experience with self-harm to instill hope in her followers.
March 1 represents Self-Injury Awareness Day, a global awareness
movement. In honor of the campaign’s significance, Harris posted a photo revealing her scars to display her own struggles and resilience.“Perhaps I had to experience this in order to be able to help someone else that is or will deal with this…I mean we hurt so that we can help others heal from that same pain, right?” she wrote. “I don’t need any sympathy, I don’t need any of you to try and guess why I did this to myself, I don’t need you to tell me things like “oh you shouldn’t do that to yourself, you’re too pretty for that” etc. because that will change nothing.”
She continued:
“All I need for you to do is simply speak and live in your truth like i always encourage you to do. I need you to see that if i can be brave enough to share this part of myself/my journey with the world, then you can too.”
In the post, the 20-year-old extended her message to all victims of self-injury while mentioning that the act can take on a variety of forms. She encouraged her followers to share their stories.
“A lot of people don’t talk about the fact that there are multiple forms of self-harm, so for those of you that can’t relate to cutting but you can relate to other forms, I see you too and you’re not alone, TRUST me when I say that.. but let me tell you this, don’t you dare spend the rest of your life hiding who you are/what you’ve been through,” she wrote.
She continued: “I don’t care if you think people will judge you, if you think people will think you’re not right in the head, if you think it’ll make people love or like you less, or if you think people will say you’re doing it for attention, you deserve to share your story…when or if YOU’RE ready. your story can + will save so many lives and you don’t even know it yet.”
Well-known for using her platform as a safe space, Harris concluded her message with support and love for those who need it.
“I love you/you are loved, you are seen, you MATTER, and you deserve everything good in the world,” she wrote. “Don’t you ever forget or doubt that.”