Self-Abuse
And
no, I don’t mean what silly adults used to say made you go blind. Maybe an even
older saying applies—it’s human nature to be our own worst enemy. We know that
eating less fatty, sugary foods and getting more exercise keeps our bodies and
minds working better. We still want to laze in front of the TV or computer and
eat ice cream or chips and dip.
We’ve
all been annoyed by people who complain about the same things over and over and
never seem to take any steps toward remedying the problem, or have ourselves
felt stuck in that spot, not sure if there is a remedy or how to go about
finding it. Used to be called being in a rut, often associated with mid-life
when we tend to ask ourselves what our life has been worth and what happened to
our dreams.
That’s
all part of the equation of the human condition. Abuse doesn’t happen when we
simply indulge the I-want section of
our ego, rather it’s when we engage in long-term behaviors destructive to our
physical and emotional health.
Destructive
Behavior
These
behaviors stem from any of a variety of reasons: poor coping skills for life’s
stresses, self-medicating psychological pain (from trauma, mental disorders, or
broken dreams) and physical pain (from illness, accidents, or aging), a lack of
self-worth—possibly from one of the above causes, a childhood devoid of
nurturing, or poor choices for which we can’t forgive ourselves.
In
the end, maybe it comes down to that—forgiveness. I’ll explore that Monday
along with behaviors we’ve probably all experienced, whether we perpetrated
them or had them visited upon us. Friday on The
Point of the Gospel—John’s version of the calling of the disciples.
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