You just described me perfectly. But I do no real wrong. I use a NSFW knife to cut boxes at work. That is the worst I do. Otherwise, I own up to what I do, even if I hid my actions at first. And I do not let myself get attached to anyone or anything, because I know it will be wrenched from my grasp.
I did not learn those lessons at my parents' hands. I learned them from life itself. As an adult. Yet I was beaten, spanked, humiliated, etc. as a child.
It is the moments between discipline that stick with a child more.