Why Do I Keep Doing This to Myself? - Gita on How to Stop Being Your Own Enemy
Riya Kumari | May 27, 2025, 23:46 IST
( Image credit : Freepik, Timeslife )
Okay, so picture this: It’s 1 a.m., you’re three cookies deep into a pack you “bought for guests,” binge-watching your ex’s new girlfriend’s dog’s Instagram stories, wondering—yet again—why you keep being the human equivalent of a self-sabotage button. Sound familiar? Welcome to the club. Motto: “We had options, we chose chaos.”
There’s a moment, quiet and unspectacular, that comes right after the damage is done. You’ve said something you didn’t mean. You’ve stayed where you shouldn’t have. You’ve chosen comfort over growth—again. And then you sit with that familiar ache in your chest, wondering, Why do I keep doing this to myself? Not dramatically, not for attention—just honestly. Like someone who's tired of running in circles inside their own head. If you've been there—and you probably have—the Bhagavad Gita has something to say. And no, it's not some lofty, cryptic sermon meant only for monks or men in robes. It's meant for people like us: unsure, overwhelmed, smart enough to see the pattern but not always strong enough to stop it.
The Enemy Within Is You, But That’s Not an Insult
In Chapter 6, Verse 5 of the Gita, Krishna says: “Lift yourself by yourself. Don’t degrade yourself. For you are your own friend. You are your own enemy.” Let that sink in. We spend so much of life trying to fix everything “out there”—jobs, relationships, parents, the government, the weather. But rarely do we turn inward and admit: I may be the one holding myself back. Not because we’re bad.
But because we’re scared. Because we’ve been hurt. Because it’s easier to repeat the familiar pain than risk something new. But the Gita doesn’t judge that. It just gently calls it what it is: degrading yourself. Not in some moral sense, but in the quiet ways you live smaller than you were meant to.
The Mind Is Meant to Serve You, Not Rule You
If your mind were a person, would you trust it with your life? Would you hand over your deepest decisions to the voice that says, “They’re better than you,” or “You’ll never change,” or “Why try?” Because that’s what we do, every day. We believe the voice that doubts us, bullies us, distracts us. We let our mind steer us into old habits and self-fulfilling disasters.
The Gita offers a different route: train your mind like you would a wild horse. Not with cruelty, but with consistency. With awareness. With kindness that’s stronger than indulgence. And slowly, that same mind that once dragged you into the same mess over and over... starts to work for you. It becomes quiet when you need clarity. It becomes sharp when you need strength. It becomes calm when everything around you isn’t.
Change Doesn’t Happen in a Grand Moment. It Happens in the Smallest Ones.
You don’t become your own friend by reading a verse or having one good day. You become it when you catch yourself, mid-pattern, and pause. When you’re about to say yes just to be liked—and you don’t. When you’re about to spiral into shame—and you take a breath instead.
When you’re about to run back to what hurt you—and you stay with yourself, however uncomfortable it feels. The Gita isn’t asking you to become someone perfect. It’s asking you to become someone aware. Because once you’re aware, you get to choose.
What If You Treated Yourself Like Someone Worth Saving?
That’s the real question, isn’t it? What if you didn’t speak to yourself like a failure every time you slipped? What if you didn’t keep proving old beliefs true by acting small just to stay safe? What if you saw your mind not as a master to obey, but as a tool to sharpen? Because you are not weak. You are not broken. You are not destined to stay stuck.
But you are responsible—for your thoughts, your actions, your patterns, your peace. That’s what Krishna means when he says you are your own liberator. Not because you have to do everything alone, but because no one can step into your mind and clean it out for you. That part is yours.
Stop Waiting for Someone to Save You from You
This is the part no one tells you: Even healing can become a distraction if it keeps you in your head and out of your life. The Gita invites you back into your own agency. Not through force. Through choice. Through courage. Through learning how to sit with your discomfort, hear your mind’s lies, and still do what’s right for your higher self. Because at the end of the day, you are the one you live with.
You are the one whose voice echoes loudest when the world quiets down. And you are the only one who can finally look at yourself and say: “I’m done living like my own enemy. From today, I’m choosing something better.” Not because it’s easy. But because it’s yours.
The Enemy Within Is You, But That’s Not an Insult
But because we’re scared. Because we’ve been hurt. Because it’s easier to repeat the familiar pain than risk something new. But the Gita doesn’t judge that. It just gently calls it what it is: degrading yourself. Not in some moral sense, but in the quiet ways you live smaller than you were meant to.
The Mind Is Meant to Serve You, Not Rule You
The Gita offers a different route: train your mind like you would a wild horse. Not with cruelty, but with consistency. With awareness. With kindness that’s stronger than indulgence. And slowly, that same mind that once dragged you into the same mess over and over... starts to work for you. It becomes quiet when you need clarity. It becomes sharp when you need strength. It becomes calm when everything around you isn’t.
Change Doesn’t Happen in a Grand Moment. It Happens in the Smallest Ones.
When you’re about to run back to what hurt you—and you stay with yourself, however uncomfortable it feels. The Gita isn’t asking you to become someone perfect. It’s asking you to become someone aware. Because once you’re aware, you get to choose.
What If You Treated Yourself Like Someone Worth Saving?
But you are responsible—for your thoughts, your actions, your patterns, your peace. That’s what Krishna means when he says you are your own liberator. Not because you have to do everything alone, but because no one can step into your mind and clean it out for you. That part is yours.
Stop Waiting for Someone to Save You from You
You are the one whose voice echoes loudest when the world quiets down. And you are the only one who can finally look at yourself and say: “I’m done living like my own enemy. From today, I’m choosing something better.” Not because it’s easy. But because it’s yours.