It’s extremely common for human beings to go from being their own biggest fan to being their biggest critic who focuses on their every flaw. While it’s one thing to be able to acknowledge your own shortcomings headon, it’s another thing entirely to be constantly criticizing yourself. It’s one of the most damaging things you can do to yourself mentally, and even though it’s all how you view yourself and your actions, it can have a widespread effect on more things than you’d think. The more negatively you think about yourself, the worse you’re going to feel about yourself, and it will just continue to trickle downward.
Tearing yourself down constantly isn’t a good thing, but it’s also one of the hardest habits to break once you’ve gotten into it. The good news is, there are some easy ways you can start to overcome it. For starters, remember one very important fact: you are so much more than your bad moments and bad choices. You are not defined solely on whether or not you’ve made mistakes in the past by the people who love you, why would you put that restriction on yourself now? Accept that even in your worst moments, you are still worth so much more than you may realize. When you can remember that, those awful moments and bad choices may not seem as awful as they were before.
Love yourself enough to give yourself some credit, too. You’re human. No human on the planet gets through life without mistakes. Rather than criticizing yourself or second-guessing your choices or doubting yourself, use the uncertainty to make sure that what you’re doing is going to benefit you. If it is, ignore that nasty little voice in your head and push forward. If it’s not a good thing to do, listen to that voice. It’s important to always be able to keep yourself in check, but molding how you do it makes all of the difference between being self critical and self love.
If you’re currently struggling with an addiction to drugs or alcohol, stop tearing yourself down, and use that to take the step and get help. Your life does not belong to addiction, it belongs to YOU. The Springboard Center is ready to help you take charge and take control of your life again, with inpatient and outpatient programs tailored to address what you need. Don’t let another day go by, call and get help: 432-620-0255.
