Guilt, People-Pleasing and Learning to Let Go
Guilt is a tool you use against yourself in manipulation.
Guilt can make it incredibly easy for us to be manipulated - and to be pushed into doing things, accepting things and carrying things we never really wanted to.
There is often a voice of guilt inside us that keeps asking:
Am I good enough?
Am I doing enough?
How can I help relieve someone else's pain?
What if I say no?
And so we say yes.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Through guilt, our attention constantly moves towards the world outside of ourselves. We try to prove that we are a good mother, wife, husband, entrepreneur, friend, daughter, son or partner.
We keep giving because we believe that giving proves our worth.
But there is a cost.
We become depleted.
Our energy disappears.
Stress becomes part of everyday life.
And somewhere along the way, we lose sight of what we need.
The difficult truth is that people often won't stop asking when we continually say yes.
As long as you keep saying yes, there is no reason for the pattern to change.
Someone once said something to me that stayed with me:
“As long as one person worries, someone is worrying. If you want to be that person, then I can stop worrying.”
It made me think about how easily we take responsibility for things that were never ours to carry.
Sometimes, letting someone else experience the consequences of their choices isn't being uncaring.
Sometimes, it is allowing them to carry what belongs to them.
So today, be kind to yourself.
Ask yourself:
What am I carrying because I feel guilty?
And then find one thing that isn't yours to carry - and let it go.
You don't have to prove your worth by exhausting yourself for everyone else.
Self-worth is something you own.
Master Your Beliefs.
Master Your Future.
