How to Stop Feeling Guilty

For one reason or another, there are plenty of persons that feel guilty no matter what. Whether you deal with coworkers or managers, family or friends, lovers or spouses, you always assume it’s your fault and feel the need to apologize or mend things.

Feeling guilty is a draining, exhaustive feeling that leads to nothing good. You feel frustrated, tired all the time and you generally have a low self-esteem. But you can manage this guilt and learn how to handle it and transform it into something productive and less worrisome.

Distinguish between the Different Types of Guilt

Guilt, like any feeling we experience, is hard to define. There are many types of guilt. Most types of guilt leave you burdened and tired while some types of guilt help you be more understanding and productive. For example, if you did something wrong from breaking something or giving a reply that hurt someone’s feelings you can learn from this guilt and next time you can avoid making the same mistake again. But if you feel guilty no matter what you do or say you have to analyze yourself, practice introspection, see where this guilt stems from and try to find productive solutions to beat it with work or other activities.

You Can’t Control Everything

…and that is fine. People who are control freaks tend to feel guilty when things don’t go as planned. But the truth is that you can only be responsible for your own actions and that’s all. What other people do, what other unpredicted events may occur; this is out of your reach and you have to come to terms with the fact that nobody is in total control over their lives and that’s perfectly fine. It would be such a boring and meaningless life if we were are all able to predict and control what happens next. Embrace guilt and learn to minimize it by doing what you like and know that even if you feel guilty about something you did nothing wrong. Turn guilt into a lesson, into something that you can learn from. Each time you feel guilty try to think that this makes you a human being, capable of emotions, empathy and that next time you can do better and avoid this feeling. Guilt can also stem from wanting to please everybody and failing. Whatever you do or say, some people will still not like you. And that is also ok, because you already have friends who get you, understand you and appreciate you for who you are. The rest don’t matter.

Not all People Have Good Intentions

A lot of people can take advantage of good persons. Don’t feel guilty if you can’t help someone; no matter how hard that person is trying to guilt induce you into doing something for them. These kinds of persons should be avoided, because their toxic behavior will make you feel bad about yourself and you don’t need this kind of drama in your life.