Dealing with the feeling of Guilt...what do you do?

Whether it's something you did or something you failed to do, the feeling of regret can be very overwhelming and difficult to deal with. But they are often exaggerated.

The feeling that the ground should open up and swallow you?...exaggerated.
And the other one, the feeling of being characteristically wrong, bad, useless or worthless.....🤦‍♂all exaggerated and inaccurate!

I have made my fair share of bad decisions, some of which should hunt my mind for the rest of my life (as I had thought). Some of those days I felt like crawling into a tiny hole, I supposed I would fit into it because of how numb and tiny I felt. I would curl up in bed using all my energy to imagine that whatever it was was not, and I would get cold in my feet. Yet all of that would not change anything. But every time I raised my head beyond the guilt, a new and powerful me was birth. But until I do, I leave myself in the environment of the mistake I've made in such a way that it defines me. And with that comes the risk of repeating the same mistake over and over again.

What do you do? How do you 'raise your head above the sea of guilt?'

#1~The first thing is to come out of negative denial. A situation where you say to yourself "no I did not make a mistake. This is not a mistake, it is who I am. I did this...I am this!"

You have to come out of the denial that you have not made a mistake and look yourself in the mirror and say to yourself "I have only made a mistake" No matter how costly and no matter for what number of times this would be. It is still a mistake. How do I know? You are feeling guilty about it. You feel bad about it, and that goes to show that this thing is not one with you. Hence it is a mistake.

#2~ When you have established this, then you would have to remind yourself that you are human and it is okay to make mistakes. This is a very powerful step! You will need a great deal of humility to achieve this. Question, what makes you better than anybody? Why can anyone else make this mistake and it will be okay but not you? You will have to be kind to yourself and treat yourself as softly as you would treat other people who have made this mistake.

While we can learn from our mistakes and apply our feeling of regrets positively, what is done is done. We cannot redo yesterday. What you can do is learn from what you have done, and grow with every mistake you make.

One thing to always remember in life is that everyone makes mistakes. And I don't know how much you screwed up and how bad the situation is, but I know that feeling bad wont make it feel better. It is very difficult to not feel or to suddenly stop feeling something as strong as guilt. And a little guilt is healthy, keeps us from being cold. So it is okay to feel that momentary punch in the soul. But the thing you do not want to do is to stay there. Admit that you've made a mistake and remind yourself it is only human of you to have made a mistake. This is a powerful growth process that will leave you better for it if you go through it than remain in it.

Of the feeling of guilt, remember: The feeling that the ground should open up and swallow you?...exaggerated.
And the other one of being characteristically wrong, bad, useless or worthless.....🤦‍♂all exaggerated and inaccurate!
While we can learn from our mistakes and apply our feeling of regrets positively, what is done is done. We cannot redo yesterday. What you can do is learn from what you have done, and grow with every mistake you've made.

So, forgive yourself, learn from it, and let it go.
So you made a mistake. Big deal!
It is not that big of a deal. Just take a deep breath and exhale.

.😊Let me know if this article was helpful to you. And follow my blog @buikem for more articles