Toxic Shame is so dangerous By Katherine Lightwood

Toxic Shame is so dangerous

By Katherine Lightwood

Today I want to talk about toxic shame, a very common problem of mine which is literally eating my life. Now, layman people who have no idea what the hell it is, allow me to explain it.

Now, we all know shame, it’s sometimes is good and is quite an essential part of constructive criticism. 

But there is another kind of shame which is actually quite rare. I’ve looked on the internet and the definition of shame is written as “a painful feeling caused by consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior”. So, regular shame is a feeling.

Imagine a little girl who sees some cookie in a hidden jar and decides to eat from there. Then her mom catches her, she finds out about it and the little girl feels ‘Shame’.  In that situation shame is just a feeling. The little girl is going to feel the shame for few minutes or maybe an hour or two. And hopefully, because of the shame, she will not do the action again.

Normal shame is about something that you did but toxic shame is not something that you did. It’s the shame about who you are as a person. A person who has toxic shame feels like, at their core, you are a flawed, defective or inferior person. Toxic shame makes you feel like you are unworthy belonging or connection.

In my mind, toxic shame is maybe one of the most destructive emotions or things someone can have because toxic shame isn’t just about feeling that you get and then it passes. Toxic shame follows you around when you have it like a dark cloud of your head. And unfortunately, it can infect every part of your life. It can make you isolated from other people. It can rob you if you are feeling connected or if you have friends.

It can lead you into a spiral downward of depression. It can also affect your physical health. Emotions like chronic shame lead to mental stress and that type of constant stress leads to all type of health issues like cardiac issues later in life, suppress your immune system. 

One symptom I am sharing with you about toxic shame is hiding from the problem. And this is what I personally suffer with. I am acknowledging this issue publicly like this because I believe recognizing the problem and having self-awareness about it will lower the intensity of problem by half. And that’s my only concern.

So, that was my thought of the day. To see more posts like this make sure to visit our main page. And Do not forget to visit our institute's page to know more about graphic design, 3D, animation courses and other awesome stuff. Till then good day to you.

Katherine Lightwood