Many of us grew up thinking we had to be hard on ourselves to succeed. We believed that criticising ourselves was the only way to improve. However, constantly criticising and being hard on ourselves often leads to feelings of shame and hopelessness. It drains our mental energy, makes us feel unworthy and puts our nervous system into freeze mode. So, why do we punish ourselves? Behind the mask of the critic is often a wounded child. Our inner critic tries to protect us from failure, hurt, or ...