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There’s a Reason You’re So Hard on Yourself

Jason Henry
3 min readNov 21, 2019

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Photo by Randy Jacob on Unsplash

Yesterday I was reprimanded in probably the nicest and kindest way anyone could be reprimanded by a total stranger, and yet I felt pretty bad when it was over.

I didn’t even do anything wrong. I was just asked a question but I internalized it like I had actually committed some great crime.

When I woke up this morning, I hit the journal and a similar theme popped up: You’re still too hard on yourself.

“Really? I thought I got over this,” I said to myself. But once I embraced the reality, I got into more investigating.

I decided to embody the me who believed it was good to feel bad when someone instructs me to stop doing something or warns me.

I realized that there really was something supporting this self-abuse. I believed that being hard on myself was helping me to be more perfect.

By applying this pressure on myself I thought I could be more in-tune with others’ needs, and ultimately, isn’t life really about serving others?

A clever cop-out but I knew that perfection wasn’t a realistic goal. Moreover, while it is good to be able to be in tune with the needs of others, didn’t I need to be in tune with my own needs?

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Jason Henry
Jason Henry

Written by Jason Henry

Counselling Psychologist | Current Writer | Constant Learner | “By your stumbling the world is perfected.”

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