Kinkini Gupta
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Self-Sabotage: Why Do People Have The Tendency To Hinder Their Own Success?
Self-sabotage is defined as the tendency to knowingly hamper ones own work or progress. It is a mental health challenge that some people face or struggle with, within themselves. In this case, there is no second or third person involved to hold you back. You become your own enemy. Expert tout that there are many reasons why people may do this. sometimes it may be through the conscious mind and sometimes it may be unconscious. How a person turns out to inculcate a self-sabotaging tendency has a lo to do with their upbringing starting from childhood to adult relationships. Other people also may have a huge role in this. Let us find out the causes, the symptoms and the factors of this behaviour.
Let us first find the difference between conscious and unconscious acts of self-sabotage. Conscious act can be defined as the acts which a person is fully aware of but commits it anyway just assuming that the consequences will not matter. One example can be, an overweight person eating a full bowl of ice cream and knowingly sabotaging their diet plan.
Unconscious acts on the other hand mean that a person is not aware of the actions and its consequences but regrets it after it has already happened. One example of this may be, not meeting deadlines and suffering the consequences. But, a self-sabotaging person would know that there may be consequences but he or she does it without properly thinking. It could come from people who have a very low-self esteem or feel like they always disappoint people or from the fear of failure.
Here are the three main factors:
People who have been brought up in dysfunctional families tend to have this behaviour. Dysfunctional families can be of many types, parents are abusive either to their children or to each other or they suffer from substance addiction. If a person does not have a secure childhood where he or she is constantly motivated and supported, this kind of behaviour can crop up pater in life.
People ho have themselves been treated badly, been on difficult, uncaring and abusive relationships can also develop self-sabotaging habits. This is because they do not know their own value. They have been treated like a secondary human being most of their life.
Another trait that people inculcate from growing up in dysfunctional families or unsupportive people is a very low self-esteem. This can also not allow people realise their potential and value leading to behaviours of self-sabotage.
Here are the symptoms: