When comparison leads to the spiral.
For almost my entire life I have set extremely unrealistic goal post for growth, I would compare myself to this theoretical ideal version of myself. It took me till about a few years ago to realize comparing myself to this ideal version caused a lot of problems, the most obvious one is the Goal posts kept moving and inevitably it would lead to impatience with my growth and frustration that I wasn’t where I wanted to be. The worst one is comparison lead to me spiraling whether hypomanic, in a mixed state or depressed. It sucks and it still happens occasionally. It’s aggravating, bad habits are so much easier to create and so difficult to stop.
Edit: It’s ironic that something you use to help mark growth ends up being one of the causes of much mental anguish and distain for yourself.