incredible-marketing Arrow
Why Are We So Self-Destructive?

As we learn more about ourselves and our addictions, we discover that our addictive patterns have a lot to do with internal self-destructiveness. This realization can be baffling for many of us. Why would we want to hurt ourselves? Why would we want to inflict pain on ourselves and sabotage our wellness? The answers can lie in the power of our subconscious mind. We’re dealing not just with how we feel consciously, what we hold to be true in our lives, what we want for ourselves, and what we think we should do for ourselves, but also all of our subconscious programming that can tell us entirely different stories from what we’re consciously aware of. We can be fighting a battle within ourselves, between what our conscious minds are telling us and what our subconscious minds are literally directing us to do. If we want to get well, and when we know that sobriety is important for us, why are we still so self-destructive?

Trauma

For many of us, our internal tendencies toward self-destructiveness, self-sabotage, and self-harm come from the limiting beliefs we’ve adopted about our worthiness and deservingness. We’ve been practicing and therefore perpetuating these beliefs, sometimes for the majority of our lives. Where do these limiting beliefs come from? Oftentimes they originate from our traumatic experiences. If we’ve been abused, neglected or otherwise mistreated, if we’ve sustained loss and are still grappling with grief, if we’ve incurred feelings of shame and regret, if we’ve been confronted with life-altering fear – and most of us have experienced one or more of these things at some point in our lives – our subconscious minds can be reprogrammed from being self-loving to being self-hating. We come to believe that we’re inadequate, that we’re unworthy of happiness and love, and that we’re destined for suffering. We also believe that we’re not strong enough to cope with our pain without using external coping mechanisms like addictive substances, behaviors, and relationships.

External Influence

Sometimes our internal conditioning comes from other people misinforming us about our worth. We might have had parents, teachers or other caregivers who told us we wouldn’t amount to anything. They too might have been struggling with addiction and mental illness. We might have experienced peer pressure or bullying that convinced us we were inadequate or inferior to other people. When people’s actions or opinions influence our own self-perception, our sense of self can become completely tainted. We can become self-hating, insecure and self-rejecting. From these feelings, internal self-destructiveness can easily develop, and we’re left doing whatever we can to hurt ourselves and bring ourselves down, including developing addictions.

The caring, compassionate staff of The Guest House is here to support you as you start your journey to recovery and healing. 

Call 855-483-7800 today for more information.

theguesthouseocala.com

3230 Northeast 55th Avenue Silver Springs, FL 34488