Shame often causes our identity to shrink to nothing. It can be hard to be vulnerable, be our true self and not pretend to be someone else or hide parts of our true self.
We often view ourselves as seriously flawed. Unworthy.
We may doubt ourselves. Our abilities. Even the core of who we are.
It causes us to hide parts of ourselves. We don’t want anyone to know our secrets. We fear people would run from us or withdraw their love if they only knew the truth about us.
We feel we need to prove our worth.
We often dislike our self, engage in negative self-talk, and beat our self up.
Go deeper, read You Are Not Meant to Live in Shame, post ; How the Lies of Shame Cause Us to Think We Are the Defective Ones, post 3; The Symptoms of Shame and the 4 Ways It Makes You Feel, post 5; and Combat Shame by Knowing Your True Identity, post 8.