12 Signs That You’re Being Too Self-Critical and What To Do

If you are always trying to be perfect, constantly berating yourself for your mistakes and shortcomings, and feeling like a failure when you don’t succeed at the goals you set.

Then it is possible that you may have become too self-critical.

The key to improving our lives is not just in how we treat ourselves but also in how we react to criticism from others.

So how can you know when you are being too self-critical?

You find yourself saying “I can’t do it right.”

When you are self-critical, the negative thoughts that enter your mind stay and they continue to grow bigger.

When we continually tell ourselves things like “I can’t do this because I’m not good enough, or “this is impossible”

we are telling ourselves that we can’t do anything.

That is the most negative and self-defeating way of thinking possible.

The problem with this thought process is that it leads to a vicious cycle where you believe your thoughts about yourself.

This then creates more negativity in your life, leading to even worse thoughts about yourself.

Most importantly, if you are always saying to yourself “I can’t do it right”, then you won’t.

You dwell on your mistakes and failures more than the things that go well in life

The problem with dwelling too much on our negative events is that we live a very small part of our lives if all we think about are moments when everything went wrong.

This leads to a very limited perspective of life and one that is not sustainable.

You are constantly telling yourself what you did wrong or should have done better

It’s natural to think about things we’ve done in the past,

However, it becomes self-defeating when all our thoughts involve dwelling on mistakes made.

When this happens our minds are constantly telling us what we did wrong, and not about the things that went well.

You have a low opinion of yourself

If you are always trying to be perfect, constantly berating yourself for your mistakes and shortcomings, and feeling like a failure when you don’t succeed at the goals you set.

Then it is possible that you may have become too self-critical.

The key to improving our lives is not just in how we treat ourselves but also in how we react to criticism from others.

To break out of the cycle, it’s important that we start thinking about what has gone well and be proud of those moments.

One way you can do this is by starting a journal or a blog.

write down all the times you made mistakes but were able to recover.

You often think that others are better than you

If we constantly compare ourselves with other people, it can lead us to believe that they’re more successful in life than we are.

It’s important for our self-esteem that we stop comparing ourselves to others,

What to do instead, is to come up with the reasons that we’re grateful for in our lives.

You are feeling hopeless about your future

If you feel like there’s no way out of where your life is going right now

…Or if you believe that things will never get better, this could be a sign that it’s time to take some action.

You have a very low self-esteem

If you feel like your opinions about yourself are not as good as they should be,

It may mean that you need to take more time for self-care.

Our past mistakes or failures cannot dictate how we live our lives.

We can all recover from what has happened in the past and learn from our mistakes.

You have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning or going to sleep at night

There are many more things that can be signs you’re being too self-critical,

but this may also be a good indicator and should set off warning bells for us if we see it happening.

If this sounds like you, don’t get discouraged.

It’s possible to change your thoughts about yourself and start living a more positive life.

You’re slow to forgive others.

You’re slow to forgive others.

You have a difficult time getting over perceived injustices.

You push yourself too hard in an effort to be perfect.

It’s not enough for you just to do your best, or try as hard as possible- it needs to be the right decision and done perfectly.

The problem with perfectionism is that its expectations are unattainable.

You’re never pleased with your accomplishments. 

You’re never pleased with your accomplishments.

You don’t want to disappoint others, so you will do anything they ask of you.

The bad part is you will do it even if it’s not what makes you feel happy and fulfilled.

This is a type of self-criticism that can be damaging.

This is because too much selflessness can lead us to lose ourselves in the process.

You are overly fearful of criticism from others

If you’re feeling this way, it might mean you’ve lost sight of what’s important and have started trying to please other people instead of yourself.

It’s important to remind ourselves that we are not responsible for the happiness or unhappiness of others and can’t always be there whenever they want us- no matter how much they need us.

It’s critical for our self-esteem that we stop comparing ourselves to others, and instead come up with the reasons that we’re grateful for in our lives.

Focus on positive affirmations like these :

It’s time I learn from my mistakes so I don’t end up criticizing myself unnecessarily.

I’m too self-critical because I compare myself to others more than I should.

You consistently say bad things to yourself. 

If you’re saying mean things to yourself, it’s a sign that your self-confidence is low and you need to start building up the positive aspects of who you are.

We need to get acquainted with more constructive ways of expressing what we think or feel, in order to safeguard against being too harsh on ourselves.

You’re a chronic underachiever.

If you always have to end up with the short stick, and can’t seem to do anything right.

it’s possible that self-criticism is holding you back from achieving your full potential.

It’s easy for us to think we’re making excuses when we’re not performing well in school or at work.

However, it might be time for some honest assessment about why this pattern has been happening so far.

It may take courage but if an evaluation reveals what could be causing your problems,

then things will start looking better almost instantly because they’ll provide concrete solutions on how to overcome these issues.

You must also remember that there are people who care about you and want the best for us.

You are unwilling to ask for help.

I’m too self-critical because you can’t seem to ask for help and need assistance with everything, even when it’s not that hard or complicated.

When we’re stuck in a rut of our own creation,

it’s easy to find ourselves unable to climb out by ourselves and struggling through life alone instead of getting the support we so desperately need.

We don’t have to be afraid anymore though:

It’s okay if someone else knows how poorly we did on an exam or project at work;

they won’t judge us like others would who might already believe the worst about us without really knowing anything about why things turned out this way.

Besides, there is nothing shameful about asking for help when it’s needed.

Wrapping Up

Do you feel like no matter what you do, nothing is ever good enough? You’re always criticizing yourself and never giving your self-esteem a break.

It’s time to start taking care of ourselves by acknowledging the positive aspects about us instead of dwelling on all our flaws because they’re only making it harder for us to go on living with dignity when we don’t give any credit where it’s due.

How to Stop being self critical

Recognize that you are being self critical and why.

When we realize when this pattern is happening, then it becomes a lot easier to stop the cycle of negativity because we’re aware of what’s going on around us at all times.

Now there’s no need to think everything isn’t good enough or that we can never do anything right;

if these thoughts about ourselves have been in our head for so long they’ve become habitual (to the point where they don’t even feel like negative thoughts anymore),

then I would recommend finding another way of thinking or changing your vocabulary altogether until those old habits die down and fade away slowly over time.”

Also try not to compare yourself to others.

The simple truth is comparing yourself to others can also cause you to be too self-critical because all this does is make you feel worse about your own shortcomings,

”that’s not what we want at all.”

You are special, you are your own person and you are going great in life.

You are not like everyone else and that’s perfectly okay.

You have to break the cycle of being too self-critical so you can finally live a happy, fulfilling life.”