Suffering doesn't improve us as a better person!
Yeah, it may sound totally opposite to what we believe and learned so far. But it's the hard truth. Suffering can make us learn many life lessons, it can change our perspective but there's no guarantee that it will make us a better person. But it's also true that sometimes it can make us feel grounded, more thankful, and be grateful. But not always!
So when we think about self-harming or self-punishment because of some guilty feeling; most of the cases it doesn't work. You may feel like you deserve to feel the pain because you made some mistakes. But this idea is very wrong. It's true that we need to release the guilty feeling. But self-punishment is never the answer.
It's true that motivation and inspiration always don't work. And many times we can't help us and harm ourselves. But we can practice self-compassion and self-forgiveness. It's not that hard as it sounds.
Accept that error is part of life. Let your mistakes and guilty feeling go. Move forward with a vision. Work on self-development to make yourself a better person. Don't make yourself stuck in certain events. Life is bigger than some events. Involve yourself in productive things, reward yourself for doing good, make self-love a habit.
Self-punishment is never a good idea. We should learn to have some control over the way to express and response, the way we let ourselves feel about anything. Rather thinking about self-punishment, think alternatives that can make you a better person so that you will not think negatively and will not have to take the path of punishment.
I hope this gonna help!