Politicians in the UK are showing the world just what self-sabotage looks like. The UK government, in cutting ties with the EU, has revealed in full what happens when drastic choices are made. Choices driven by ego, self-gratification, and short-term gain, rather than by what serves the wider public show us, on a large scale, what happens when decision-making goes unchecked.
Brexit provides a vivid example of this, and it’s a lesson we can apply to our own lives.
But self-sabotage isn’t only political. We all do it in our own lives, often without realising. In our minds, we believe we’re making the right choices, but those choices are shaped by where we are mentally at the time, not always by what’s best for us in the longer-term.
So many of our decisions come from past experiences, especially painful ones. Unconscious patterns, the kind that live beneath the surface, the patterns that continue to guide our actions.
Asa child, I would self-sabotage through anger. But I’ve also had to learn to dig deep. Over the years I have spent time reflecting, trying to make sense of my experiences, of the world around me. When I finally learned to tap into and to trust my intuition the truth of what happened to me, became unavoidable. I didn’t always like what I saw, but I knew that if my life was going to change for the better, I had to face it.
Through writing, over the years, I have slowly peeled back layers of my own story. In doing so, I uncovered a life very different from the one I was living. Although it's been difficult, it's also been the most valuable work I’ve done. Facing the truth is painful, but it’s the only path to authentic personal growth.
When your life is built on illusions rather than truth, you start to make poor choices. The lesson of Brexit is simple but powerful: read between the lines. Just as governments need to face reality and to make better decisions, so too must we in our personal lives.
Real progress, in politics, in work, in relationships, and in ourselves, only comes when we are willing to face uncomfortable truths. It needs to happen, because that’s how we break the cycle of self-sabotage and start making better choices that lead to growth, instead of regret.
