mental masochism?

[good_girl]

I had lunch yesterday with a friend and several coffees later we got onto the topic of what a masochist really is.

She and I are both fairly new to the lifestyle, both collared in real life for the first time and neither of us living with our Masters. I had been explaining to her that I has written something in my journal to my Master that I really wasn’t sure how he would react to, in the time between when I wrote it and when He replied I almost went out of my mind (I was very happy after His reply btw). We got to talking about this and came to the realization that we both do this on a regular basis, the worrying, the waiting, the wondering…and then the relief that always seems to follow. This is not something that our Masters inflict on us, rather something we seem to inflict on ourselves.

We both know the definintion of a masochist

MASOCHIST Added by Tiger, 08-29-2008 02:53 AM

One who experiences arousal, excitement, or sexual gratification from receiving pain. Contrast sadist. Commentary: Contrary to popular misconception, a masochist does not experience arousal at all forms of pain; stubbing a toe, for example, is unlikely to be arousing. The context of the pain is important.

But we got to wondering if there is another form of masochism, a mental aspect, admittedly neither of us considered ourselves to be masochists based on the pain factor, but are we setting ourselves up for a more mental factor knowing that the relief always follows?

I’m just wondering if anyone else has thought about this or maybe your thinking it now that you read this….either way, what’s your take on this? What experiences have you had that may relate to this? I would love to hear others views on this from both Dom and sub.