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We've all done something self-destructive
at some point in our lives.
Most of the time, it's not intentional
and doesn't become a habit.
Self-destructive behaviors are those
that are bound to harm you physically or mentally.
It may be unintentional
or you may know exactly what you're doing
but the urge is too strong to control.
Problems can eventually arise
when this type of behavior becomes habitual.
So here are seven common behaviors
of a self-destructive person.
One, you hold onto a self-defeating mindset.
Do you struggle with thoughts like,
I won't be able to make it or I'm not good enough for this?
Do these thoughts plague you
before heading into any kind of situation?
A self-defeating mindset is when you have a constant stream
of negative thoughts about yourself
or your relationship with others
and this swirly impacts your self-esteem.
A self-defeating mindset can become a self-destructive habit
because it does not allow you
to be the best version of yourself
and it's caused by no one other than you.
Two, you hide from your emotions.
When you are hiding from your emotions,
you fail to acknowledge both your positive
and negative emotions.
This results in a forced deception of your emotional state,
leading to both physical and mental health issues
that impose additional stress on your body.
You are at risk of having an outburst of emotions.
This is all most likely due to deep emotional scarring,
like dealing with the death of a loved one.
You feel like it's better to not feel anything,
to relieve the pain of grief.
Over time, these emotions start to build up
and could be much more harmful
when they burst out during a meltdown.
Three, you fail to take action.
Do you overindulge in playing video games
instead of finding a much needed job?
Do you feel like things just aren't worth
trying for in the first place?
When you fail to take action,
you are setting yourself up for failure from the start.
You might cost yourself relationships, jobs
and other opportunities that require you to take some risk.
This kind of behavior can be a very difficult habit
to overcome and bars you from future attempts
at being successful in your goals.
Four, you hold on to forced incompetence.
Do you sell yourself short when you tell yourself,
I'm just not good at math and don't even try
to understand the material better in your math class?
Forced incompetence is a mindset
where you won't try to learn and practice
if you believe that you do not have an innate talent for it.
This thinking can also be a coping mechanism
if you aren't confident in your abilities.
Unfortunately, this mindset can only set you up for failure
and keep you from trying new things
and broadening your horizons.
Five, you are socially isolated.
Do your friends and family no longer wanna talk to you?
Did you pick a fight and insult them?
Or maybe they don't reach out to you anymore
because you've simply ignored all their texts, calls
and invitations to hang out.
Isolating yourself from friends and family
can be an active or a subconscious choice.
You might think you are doing the world a favor,
figuring, everyone would just be better off
if they just stayed away from you.
In reality, all you are doing is harming yourself
and the people close to you by damaging your relationships
and stirring up depression and anxiety for yourself.
Six, you are unnecessarily self-sacrificial.
Are you so focused on making others happy
that you forgot to look for your own happiness?
When you're being self-sacrificial,
you feel noble and maybe you've tried to convince yourself
that you are doing the right thing, truthfully,
this behavior can actually be more self-sabotage.
Maybe you decided to follow
a professional career path only because your parents
wanted that particular path for you.
But it's now left you mentally and physically exhausted
because your heart's never truly been in it.
Seven, you have problems with alcohol and drug abuse.
Abusing the use of alcohol and drugs
is much more evident in people who are not happy.
By reaching for these substances,
you might be using them to escape from your situation.
Meanwhile, the world around you keeps going
and you will keep falling behind and then find yourself
in an even worse situation than the one before.
This can turn into a cycle that negatively affects
your physical and mental health.
Do you relate to any of these habits?
We hope this video helped you
to recognize some self-destructive behaviors.
These kinds of behaviors are common in all of us
and the importance of bringing awareness to them
and being able to identify
these negative behaviors is important.
Go ahead and like and share this video
if it helped you and you think it can help someone else too.
The studies and references used
are listed in the description below.
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