is a deceptive way of self comfort

and provides an excuse for not taking action

Feeling sorry for yourself is like telling someone (in this case yourself) about a bad day you had. “Did you hear what they said about me? Did you see what they have done to me? It felt awful!” and expecting the other person to reassure you that this indeed was the worst day of your life. You need that internal validation, someone to tell you that your feelings are legitimate. “How can I ever recover from this??” you say to yourself and that comforting voice that tries to protect you from all trouble will say “You CAN’T! It’s impossible! To go out there after everything that happened?! No way! You are scarred for life! Better continue protecting yourself by withdrawing from any similar situation.” And you have someone external to blame since a situation happened to you. And that’s how you continue to deceive yourself that inaction is the way to go, because the self soothing thought that there is nothing that you could possibly do about a certain situation feels good and relieving, like a warm self hug. The treacherous thing about this is that while providing a certain security, this will also prevent you from moving forward.

Inspired by Sebastian Kruse of “Dance specific training” @coachsebastian