(I need this!)
“Self-sabotage is when we say we want something and then go about making sure it doesn’t happen.” ~ Alyce P. Cornyn-Selby
A talkative mouse, a rat, and a small shrew were trapped in a flood, desperately clinging to the side of a lily pad - and sinking fast! A helpful owl came to their rescue, first telling the rat to clamp its teeth onto its talons as the owl flew to safety and then returning for the shrew, who received similar instructions. Finally, as the tides rose ever higher, the owl came back for our talkative mouse.
“You are rescued and will live!” said the owl. “But I’ve noticed you talk a lot. Promise me you’ll keep your mouth closed around my legs and on no account open it, or you’ll fall to your fate!”
“Of course!” said the mouse, who proceeded to clamp his mouth onto his feathered rescuer’s landing gear.
They took off and flew across the floods. The owl was about to land on some high ground, but the mouse decided he wanted to alight some other place to get dry.
“Not there…” shouted the mouse, but those were the last words he ever spoke as he fell into the swirling waters below.
We can all laugh at such a silly tale because we never behave in such self-destructive ways, do we? Of course we do - although perhaps not as obviously - but why?
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Mouse reference
Delusions of reference
Or is it just truly a reference?..
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I don’t know if you self sabotage, do you?
Yes. I often start doing something I am uncomfortable with for my own good and then I start talking to myself and it makes me have to start over.
Fancy name for feeling like I shouldn’t be doing something but do it anyways is “cognitive dissonance” well pretty much that’s what it is.
Good morning, but the way. I had overtrained my calves and slept in till 8am. They feel less sore.
Good morning mouse… I woke up late today, now I’m pissed because of the law change in disability. Have a paper to do but I’m self sabotaging and procrastinating.
Sounds like you have a fair amount of crap to do and that you don’t want to do it.
Try making it all bite size. Like go about the paper one paragraph or one page at a time, then do something else and then go back to work.
I don’t do that, but I’ve heard from a masters student in counseling who is a nam vet with PTSD and ADHD that it works well enough to get a masters despite having mental health conditions.
Thanks for the tip, will try that way.
I think you’re also like me, once you start doing something you try to do it all, even if it takes hours to do it.
Yes- I am all or nothing. I either go full head on or I waste my time. Usually I go take things head on and I do not stop to pee or drink water until the task is done.
It’s effective, it’s also a little affective. Lol
I sometimes get hit hard by the illness and have to do something other than study like mad for a bit. I’ve had a big problem week featuring a crashed computer and a failed medication change and conflicts with my dad and sister. Needless to say, I worked out to where it was hard to walk (overtrained calves) and am taking it easy today. Not gonna touch the fifty articles I have to read in the next two weeks. They’re for the next two weeks.
For me, not doing anything is hard because it drives me insane. I’m awake and had my meds, coffee and breakfast and am on here- it’s productive, it’s a support group and we help one another out, but it’s not academia.
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Yeah, I was positive that I needed to focus on my sanity and quit my degree two weeks ago. I took a break from studying and that attitude changed.
I’m also an all or nothing person. It screws up with the perfectionism too.
Oh wow you sound a lot like me.
I am a super perfectionist. Below a 95 and I feel pretty bad, even though 90 or above is an A.
Just remember, that ■■■■ works. I have a friend who is as severely perfectionist as I am, and now he is pondering whether he wants to get an MD, a PhD, or a both in an ultra competitive joint MD+PhD program. He has this problem because he’s been given offers from all three.
I say contain the perfectionism to work. Don’t get rid of it. It’s useful.
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This illness brought my grades to the lowest. I used to not study at all and have good grades, I also screwed up my grades because of drug use and skipping classes, but I managed to always get average grades.
Now I feel the more I study the more confused I get, I try to go back to my previous confidence but it was shattered.
I’m really demotivated to be honest, as a result I self-sabotage my studying. Turning it around now, hope it’s not too late, I’m guessing it isn’t. I kinda forgot I got into a medical degree. It takes hard work.
Sounds like a typical case of a high premorbid IQ. Well, some of us were so smart before scz that then average 10 IQ points shaved off still leave us way out there in terms of intelligence. I too have to study, I used to not understand why my peers studied- I just read and listened and did assignments then took exams and didn’t really try. Meanwhile I was training about 20 hours a week.
I think you should try some coffee or tea- caffeine is shown to enhance mental and physical performance. No amohetamines. Adderal and Ritalin and crap aren’t for scz patients.
You’re probably right… I haven’t taken an IQ test since before the onset, I had 135. Don’t see myself as smart now, but with more insight so that’s a plus.
I’m on coffee right now 
I show up as 134 after onset and on meds. That means I most likely used to be 144.
If you were north of 130 before onset, you’re probably north of 120 now.
I know it sucks to go from genius to very very bright. I mean I am technically one point away from genius and it hurts my pride. I understand that.
But hey, most people don’t have squat on your intelligence, so keep that in mind. 120 is enough to get a bachelors in sciences at a very good school. It’s plenty.
And hey, being as smart as I am sucks. I am sort of an elitist because of it and it’s hard to keep my mind occupied. I have few friends who are in my league. Normal people hate me sometimes because of my brains. There is stigma around being an outlier of any sort. Then, once you do find the super geniuses, they’re all above 150 and it’s like training with a heavyweight when you’re a lightweight but still a champ.
Yep. I can relate. I tend to get quiet now on discussions, let them trow bricks at each other for all I care.
lol class discussions. I had a few classes like that, and I was told to stop talking because I was always right and “dominated” the discussions.
Heheheheh narcissism kicking in Heheheh
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