Guilt and regrets are destructive emotions that can ruin your life if you let them consume you. It’s important that you understand what these emotions are so you can take your power back. Guilt is when you feel as though you have done something wrong.
It makes you question your actions and can help you better yourself in the future. Say you forgot about your significant other’s birthday. You may feel guilty because you let your relationship slip your mind.
Regrets are when you focus too much on the past. You want things to have happened differently or you wish you would’ve made another decision. Regrets help you evaluate your decisions, but too many regrets can cause you to constantly worry and stress. You may constantly regret what you said to your ex or why you didn’t take that dream job.
8 Ways to Live Your Life Free from Guilt and Regrets
1. Accept Yourself for Who You Are
The first step to living a life with no regrets is accepting yourself for who you are. Accepting who you are means you embrace every aspect about yourself. You like your qualities and the things you’re not so great at. The more you accept yourself for who you are now, the easier it is to forgive yourself of unnecessary guilt and worrying about letting people down.
Begin by accepting your feelings. Nobody is perfect, we all have insecurities. You may not like your past decisions you’ve made or something as simple as the way you look. Allow yourself to feel these feelings and know that it’s ok to not be perfect.
Once you accept the way you feel, think about what has made you feel this way. Analyze your past and how you came to perceive yourself the way you do now. By understanding your past, you can learn from it rather than let it drag you down.
Read Also: 20 Daily Habits of Hardworking People Who Never Get Stressed
2. Learn from your mistakes
We all make mistakes in our lives. Whether you screwed up at work, said something you shouldn’t’ve, or took the wrong path in life. Instead of letting these mistakes make you feel guilty, use them to your advantage. Use them to help you better yourself.
One of the best ways to look at your mistakes is to look at them as learning lessons. Ask yourself what went wrong and how you can avoid that situation in the future. You can learn a lot about yourself when you make mistakes. Rather than dwelling on the mistake you made and how guilty you should feel, focus on bettering yourself.
Everyone makes mistakes, that’s what makes us human. Reminding yourself that you’re not perfect can help alleviate guilt. Instead of harping on what you did wrong, speak to someone who has been in the same situation as you. They may be able to help you move forward without looking back.
Read more: Your Essential Life Reset Challenge Checklist
3. Practice forgiveness
Forgiveness is allowing yourself to let go of feelings of guilt and regrets and moving on with your life. Sometimes we as people like to hold grudges or hang onto past events that may have caused us pain. When this happens you carry that hurt in your heart and body. Learn how you can forgive yourself and others and start living.
The best way to start forgiving someone is to allow yourself to feel your feelings. Take a moment and think about what made you upset. Did you do something you regret? Has someone hurt you? Allow yourself to feel those emotions and accept that you are feeling them. Once you accept that you’re feeling guilty or upset, try to look at the situation from a different perspective.
Forgiving yourself can be one of the hardest things to do. You may feel so guilty about things you wanted to say or things you didn’t say. Write yourself a letter about what you’re feeling. Remind yourself that no one is perfect – not even you! By writing yourself this letter you allow yourself to understand your feelings and forgive yourself for your mistakes.
4. Live in the present moment
Living in the present is one of the many ways to live your life to the fullest. When you live in the present you allow yourself to let go of past mistakes that you may constantly feel guilty about or regret. Living in the present usually goes hand in hand with mindfulness.
Mindfulness is where you clear your mind of any judgment and simply live in the moment. By practicing mindfulness you allow yourself to truly appreciate life as it’s happening around you without holding onto the past.
Try practicing deep breathing when you find yourself worrying about the past. Take a deep breath in through your nose and let your stomach expand. Once you have taken a full breath in, begin to slowly exhale through your mouth. Deep breathing allows you to feel more grounded and clears your mind of past thoughts.
Remember that everyone messes up – it’s part of life! Crying over past mistakes isn’t going to change your current situation. The more you practice mindfulness through meditation and deep breathing, the easier it will be to appreciate every moment life has to offer. As you become more mindful of every moment you learn to let go of the past and live in the now. The more you allow yourself to thrive in the present, the more you allow yourself to live with no guilt or regrets.
Read Also: 8 Smart Ways to Deal with Judgmental People
5. Set goals
Setting goals for your life is another great way to live with no guilt or regrets. When you set goals for yourself you have something to look forward to and a clear path you can follow. Sit down and really think about what you want in life. Do you want to grow as a person? Do you want to move up in your career? Maybe you want to find love. Think about your biggest dreams and what you value most in life.
After you have figured out what you want in life, write down some small steps you can take to reach your goals. By breaking your dreams down into smaller tasks, you won’t feel as overwhelmed which will make it easier for you to reach your goals.
Remember that your goals may change as you grow in life. Sometimes things don’t work out in our lives and that’s ok! Letting go of a goal that no longer serves you will allow you to stop dwelling on the things you didn’t reach.
6. Surround yourself with positive people
Let’s face it, when you’re around negative people you tend to feel down yourself. The people you spend the most time with can impact how you feel, think, and even view life. Surrounding yourself with positive people is a great way to live life with no guilt or regrets.
When you are around positive people, you’ll find yourself feeling happier and more confident. Positivity oozes from these types of people which will allow you to feel good about yourself. Not only will you feel better about yourself but positivity can help decrease the amount of guilt you feel when you do something wrong. Positive people focus on your strengths rather than your weaknesses, which is what you should do as well.
Surrounding yourself with positive people will allow you to speak about anything with these people. You can vent to them about your feelings of guilt and they can help you work through those emotions.
7. Express yourself
Expressing how you feel is very important when you’re feeling guilty and have regrets. You may not even know how freeing it can be to let someone else know how you feel. There are so many ways you can express your feelings. You can write your feelings down, paint a picture, or even speak to someone you trust. Any of these ways will allow you to let yourself know and understand how you feel.
Writing your feelings down can be very beneficial to you. You can start a journal and write down your thoughts and feelings everyday. Writing allows you to be vulnerable and say whatever you want without judgment. As you write down your feelings of guilt, you may understand why you feel that way. If you want you can even write the people you feel guilty around a letter. You don’t have to send it to them but writing can be such a great relief for you.
8. Be grateful
Expressing gratitude is such a wonderful thing to practice. When you allow yourself to be grateful for the little things in life, you open your mind up to appreciation. Focusing on what you don’t have will only allow you to feel more guilt and regret. When you take the time to be grateful you’ll start to feel happier.
Start by writing down things you’re grateful for every day. You can start your day by writing 3-5 things you’re grateful for as you drink your morning coffee. Not only will this help you appreciate the little things but writing can help you relieve stress.
You can even tell the people around you that you’re grateful for them. Let your significant other know how much they mean to you or tell your coworker how great of a job they’re doing. You will be spreading positivity while filling your own tank up.
Save the pin for later
