Self Care and Relationships
Stop Dragging Your Failures Around
Empty your ruck sack and make your burden lighter
You’ve made mistakes. You’ve done things you’re not proud of. Others have forgiven you, but you just can’t forgive yourself. Any of this sound familiar? Maybe this isn’t you, but it likely is someone you know.
Look. With any luck, life is a long series of choices that lay brick after brick along the road of your life. We can’t always see what’s ahead on that road, but we can certainly look back at where we’ve been. Who we’ve been.
I was talking to a guy today who confessed that he is carrying a tremendous amount of guilt over some choices he made many years ago. Those choices affected other people, and that was where he was stuck.
“They’ve forgiven me for what happened,” he said. “The problem is, I can’t forgive myself.”
I asked him how much he weighed back then. He gave me a puzzled look, so I told him to just picture that number in his head. No need to tell me what it is. When he had it, he nodded.
“Ok, good,” I said. “That’s how much weight you’re dragging around right now. You’re carrying the man you used to be on your back, and it’s weighing down the man you are today.”
Has this ever been you? Do you find your present boat anchored to the shores of your former self? I know firsthand what that struggle feels like. It’s time to release yourself from that past. It’s time.
Hear me carefully, friends. I’m not suggesting that your past has no value in your present or your future. In fact, I dare say you should never forget where you’ve been.
Remember the pain of your mistakes. Remember how they affected others. Never forget that bad things can happen when you make bad choices. These experiences can be a blessing if you remember the lessons you learned from them.
Do not, however, stay rooted to those times. If you’ve done the hard work of improving your outlook on life and your ability to care what you put others through, then you are absolutely a better person than you used to be.
If you haven’t yet done that work, then what are you waiting for? It’s time to get cracking!
Unload that guilt from your rucksack. Stop carrying the weight of your past on your shoulders.
Learn to love yourself and never stop seeking to be better each day. You still have a life in front of you that deserves your attention, so don’t rob your future self in service to something you no longer are.
Hit me up at frankvaughn@gmail.com sometime. I’d love to hear from you!
