CockneyRebel wrote:
I also feel very guilty for messing up. It's okay for somebody else to mess up, but it's not okay for me to mess up. If an NT messes up, they're off the hook. If I mess up, I get a big screaming lecture about it. No wonder I beat myself up, when I mess up, whether I get in trouble, or not.
Same here.
I've made progress in the past few years, but it's still something I have to fight, and I don't always win. It'd be great to have a friend who knew when to reassure me at such times, but they'd have to be brave and to have a very good way with words, because I never believe the usual glib stuff such as "don't worry, it wasn't really your fault." When I installed Windows 3.1 on my partner's computer, I locked up the whole machine, and she said I was "unconsolable." It might well have been Microsoft's fault, but I'd brought the discs and installed them without really warning my partner of any risks, so I felt completely responsible for killing the machine.
Like I say, I've made some progress in softening my self-loathing when I screw up, by learning to recognise it while it's happening and by trying to reassure myself, and telling myself that the feelings will pass. Also, on a good day, if I've caused anybody harm by messing up a task, I'll look into ways of making good the damage I've done. And, less helpfully, I tend to avoid trying anything I might get wrong.