What If You’re Not Broken-Just Human?

How to bounce back from the messy moments and build yourself again.

“I’m a failure. I suck. I’m awful.”

If you’ve ever thought those words - or whispered them into the quiet of your own mind - I want you to know: I’ve been there. And I mean it when I say that hearing those words doesn’t make me think less of you. It makes me think… You must be hurting. Deeply.

Because underneath that kind of self-talk is often something more honest: shame. Exhaustion. Fear that something inside you is unfixable.

But here’s what I want to say clearly:

No, you will not always feel this way.

And also? These thoughts don’t disappear just because we “know better.” They tend to stick around when the pain underneath has never been witnessed, named, or fully healed.

We don’t just think this way out of nowhere. We learn it. We absorb it. We internalize it - sometimes as far back as childhood. It’s a voice that was once protective. If you tear yourself down first, maybe no one else will get the chance.

But now? That voice might be keeping you from fully living.

Here’s what a good therapist might say in this moment:

1. Let’s slow this down.

What happened right before these thoughts showed up? What were you doing, feeling, remembering? The spiral doesn’t start with the thought - it starts with the moment before.

2. These thoughts are protective.

“I suck” and “I’m awful” aren’t just judgments. They’re shields. If you criticize yourself first, it feels like control. It makes sense if you’ve been hurt or shamed before. But protection isn’t the same as peace.

3. You are not your thoughts.

These words? They’re echoes. Leftovers. They are not who you are. They’re a part of you trying to survive, not a verdict on your value.

Mindset shifts aren’t about flipping a switch. They’re about reconnecting with the parts of you that learned to speak this way to survive. They’re about noticing the old patterns and choosing, again and again, to show yourself gentleness instead of judgment.

You’re not broken. You’re not alone.

You’re human.

And being human is enough.