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“The feeling of guilt eats away at you – little by little”. This is a phrase that every single one of us knows or is aware of. But, have you ever wondered why you are constantly feeling guilty? “Why do I feel guilty all the time?” is a question that can only be answered by you.
Often times, we are so stuck into thinking that everything is our fault, we don’t even realize the extent to which we are affecting ourselves mentally. In order for you to get yourself out of the rut, knowing what is causing this is important.
In here, I have shared with you some of the reasons why you could be feeling guilty all of the time with no possible cause in the hindsight.
Read: 12 Ways To Get Positive Energy In Your Life – Welcome Better Changes In Life
What Does It Mean To Feel Guilty All The Time? (And Why You Are Feeling It?)
There is no one or standard answer to why you might be feeling guilty. To be fair, it varies from person to person and the situations they are in.
If you are someone who has been letting their guilt eat away at their soul, it is high time that you analyze the reasons and find better ways to cope with it.
When we are trying to explain what it means to feel guilty, it is mainly the problem with self blame. You constantly feel like you are at fault. And, to be fair, there are instances when things are not in your control and you have blamed yourself for it.
Knowing the reasons can help you cope better with the situation.
Let us take a look at some of the probable reasons why do I feel guilty all time, shall we?
1. Your lack of self confidence
Often times, one of the most common reasons behind feeling guilty all the time for no reason is because of your lack of self confidence.
It could be because of an incident that you could have experienced or it could also be because of the way you have been raised.
Lack of self confidence reflects on you blaming yourself for even the smallest of things.
You will have the constant fear that everything that you are doing is wrong. This is one of the most common reasons why it is important for you to analyse whether that is the case or not.
If it is your lack of self confidence that is reflecting on the guilty conscience, it is important that you work on it.
Read: 15 Ways To Develop Self Trust – Boost Your Self Confidence
2. Someone is manipulating you
Emotional manipulation is the worst kind of manipulation you will ever experience.
If you have someone in your life that is constantly trying to manipulate you into blaming yourself for things that you didn’t have any control over, it is time that you assess this as a red sign.
Having someone tell you that you did this wrong is one of the most common reasons you could be feeling guilty all the time.
When you are being told that something that you didn’t even have control over was wrong, it is likely that the same is a form of manipulation that you need to keep a record of.
The last thing that you want is to feel unworthy and that too for something you didn’t do.
Read: 10 Ways To Stop Emotional Manipulation – Prevent Getting Controlled
3. You actually did something wrong
When we are complaining about feeling guilty all the time, it is likely that we actually did something wrong.
It is easy to lie to people but you can’t lie to your inner conscience. And, that is what makes you feel guilty.
When you know that something that you did was wrong, it is likely going to eat away at you. The best way to overcome that is by acknowledging your mistake.
Additionally, if your mistake affected someone negatively, it is important that you acknowledge their grief and apologize to them too.
How to not feel guilty?
Overcoming your guilty conscience can be tough. Not only does it affect your mental peace, it can also end up making it difficult for you to function in your everyday life.
But, even with the obstacles, it is not impossible for one to overcome the issues.
There are ways in which you can get rid of feeling guilty all the time. The only catch – you need to know how to do it.
Read: 15 Steps To Forgive Yourself – You Deserve A Fresh Start
1. Analyze what is making you guilty
If you want to overcome the constant feeling of guilt, it is important that you analyze what is making you guilty.
Explore the feelings of guilt and ask yourself what is making you feel that way. You wouldn’t get a straight answer to anything but it is likely that you will be able to find better alternatives to coping with the situation.
Gaining clarifications about your situation can help you cope better with it.
Additionally, apart from the primary cause, you can also explore the triggers that ignited the feelings of guilt.
This can help you venture into it better to find better ways out of it.
Read: 12 Positive Self Talk Practices – Know The Details And The Ways
2. Get over the “I have should have done this”
The constant despair of “I should have done this differently” is something that makes you feel even guiltier.
The last thing that you want is to overburden yourself with the feeling of guilt.
Alternatively, one of the best things to do to get over this is by getting yourself out of the funk of “I should have”.
Things that have happened have no way of being reversed. If you want to experience better results with your life, you need to stop blaming yourself constantly. That is where the things need to change for good.
Read: 11 Reasons You Should Be Kind To Yourself – Treat Yourself Right!
3. Stop taking things out of proportion
So, yes, you did break your friend’s trust. Yes, you know you are wrong. Yes, you should have done things differently.
But, for how long will you feel bad about it?
Human beings make mistakes. Sometimes we do it intentionally and sometimes we don’t.
That doesn’t mean that you have to sit and think back on something that you did wrong 10 years back and blame yourself for it still now.
There is no need for magnification of the things that you once have already felt guilty about.
Things happen and things go wrong sometimes. It is important that you find alternative ways to overcome those issues and work on yourself instead.
Repenting is good but the moment that you end up stretching things out of proportion, that is where things go wrong.
You can’t expect to stop feeling guilty if you are making things way out of what it actually is. Stop blaming yourself. You messed up, own up to your mistakes and move on from it.
Read: 6 Signs You Are In A Rut And 10 Effective Ways To Get Yourself Out Of It
4. Come to a settlement
Taking on from the last point, one of the best ways on how to not feel guilty all the time is to make yourself understand that things can’t be changed.
If you broke your friend’s trust, it is not likely that you can go back in time and undo that.
Yes, the only thing that you can do is look at the future and finds ways to compensate for the hurt that you have caused your friend.
It is futile for one to stay stuck thinking of something that they did wrong.
There is no point regretting things is you know that they happened in the moment and can’t be undone.
Life is not a painting where you can whitewash your flaws. Once you paint outside of the margin, it is going to stay there.
It is up to you if you want to keep extending that flaw or lift the brush and start a new painting.
Read: 15 Effective Ways To Be Fearless In Everything You Do
5. Start journal writing
We should be grateful for every single day that we get to live on this planet.
If you have been cursing every single day of your existence because of the bubbling guilt inside of you, know for a fact that journal writing can be a very healthy outlet.
It is not a very new concept and definitely something you might have heard from every person around but let me reiterate again.
Confide in your journal. Write down the things that have been bothering you.
Read: 14 Easy and Effective Ways to Boost Mood Instantly
If you have been experiencing a bad year, confess why it is so.
It is all on how you find recluse. Journal writing is a positive and healthy outlet for all your guilt and frustration and the same can effectively help you overcome the issues as well.
When your life has been a constant turmoil, focus on the positive. It is tough, nobody is saying it isn’t but if you want to get an answer to why do I feel guilty all the time, you need to self reflect. Analyze what it is that could have gone wrong and move forward from there. There is no point reflecting on what has already happened. All you can do is move in the forward direction and leave everything behind you.
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