Do you punish yourself if you don’t meet your expectations?

You said you were going to accomplish XYZ today, you didn’t. How do you punish yourself?

You said you weren’t going to eat XYZ this month, but you slipped up and ate it anyway. What do you do to punish yourself?

You should be more successful…how do you punish yourself?
You should be thinner…how do you punish yourself?
You should be more thoughtful…how do you punish yourself?
You should have worked harder…how do you punish yourself?
You should have finished that report, but you didn’t…how do you punish yourself?

I’m not condoning this behavior at all, but it’s important to pull it out of the darkness and acknowledge the little and big ways we “punish” ourselves.

If we acknowledge the ways we punish ourselves, we have the chance to substitute punishment with something that has positive long-term effects.