How do I keep myself from being constantly bothered by embarrassing/disturbing/painful/fru

I would like to add that I have no actual trauma and it's not a single experience that keeps popping up in my head.

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I would prefer a solution that does not involve substance abuse by the way.

>>17505297
Some people are just able to forget their 'mistakes in hindsight'. But others not so much - you just have to accept that at the time, you acted perhaps too emotionally or in an ignorant fashion. You have to make peace with what you did and if you can take away some sort of lesson from it - you've done really well. As long as you have made an effort to change for the better, anyone who wants to hold your previous 'mistakes' over you are, quite frankly, cunts - so dont' worry about it.

I look back and think of all the dumb shit I've done, but I'm at peace with it because I think I did the best I could given the circumstances - I try to take an improvement away from it too (e.g. don't be so rash or emotional next time)

>>17505379
Perhaps you're right. In many cases I learned my lesson soon after it happened. What tends to happen though is that I screw something up and then the whole back catalog of what could go wrong opens.

Let me bring up a concrete example to make sure I get what you mean. Recently I fucked up two things related to birthdays. I forgot to congratulate a friend of mine (for no reason at all, just a stupid mistake) and I didn't give another guy any present because he wasn't celebrating it. I felt like a sorry piece of crap for days and worried about 'what else am I forgetting!?' (which in turn provided a lot of tic-inducing cringe). What I should do is just pay more attention to birthdays of people I care about and always buy the other guy a present and leave it at that without dwelling on the mistake. Is that it?

>>17505297
EVERYBODY - absolutely everybody - has a catalogue of cringeworthy memories that haunt them in their weaker moments. You simply cannot escape having them.

The trick is to shoo them away when they come. Distract yourself. Go do something that will take up your thinking, or that will be pleasurable and stop you thinking.

This sounds awfully dumb but it really is this simple - think happy thoughts.

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>>17505421
So you are suggesting not having enough on my mind in the moment is what causes it so my mind wanders off to the cringe catalog? That makes a deal of sense since it's the summer break. I did notice that it never happens during the more difficult and communicative part of my job.

>>17505421
pretty much this.

I have a thing that I say to myself whenever I'm plagued with cringey memories like that. sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't, but here it is:
>nobody else even remembers that happened
>and even if they do, they're not judging me on it
>and even if they are, then that's their problem

Do something.

Get a hobby. Go to the gym. Watch a movie. Learn to play an instrument. Go for a jog. Learn programming. Get good at chess. Fix your car. Knit a fucking sweater, anything is better then laying around doing nothing.

>"It tends to happen when I'm alone"

No, it happens while you are doing absolutely nothing. Thinking about the past won't change it, learn from your mistakes and move on.
Be busy by doing something valuable

>>17505558
Good one man. The bright side is that with a busy semester and multiple projects on the side coming up, being occupied it not something I have to worry about anymore soon. This whole thing sounds more and more like a summer break symptom.