This article explores the expression, “You are your own worst enemy.” Many people can relate to this expression, calling to mind personal experiences of procrastination, deliberate poor choices, or other self-destructive decisions that we question later. Psychologist and author Robert Firestone attributes these experiences to self-sabotaging thoughts and behaviors perpetrated by something he coined as our “critical inner voice.” The critical inner voice is essentially an anti-self, or a mental part of a person that has turned against itself, formed by internalized criticisms from early life experiences. These criticisms may not even have been directed at the person with the critical inner voice, but perhaps criticisms that parents or caretakers had about themselves.
Read the full article here: Self-Sabotaging: Why We Get in Our Own Way