Anyone Else Feel Guilty?

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He’s smart, and he’s sneaky.

He got to us early. We’ve known him since childhood.

He became so familiar we began to hear his words in our own voices.

His name is Guilt, and he wants to steal your life.

I grew up in an atmosphere of guilt. Of course, that didn’t begin with me. Guilt flexed his muscles in my family long before I was born. By the time I surfaced, he was part of the air we breathed.

Because of abuse, I was one of those kids who felt responsible for everything bad that happened. I grew skilled at living in the land of what-if and if-only. “What if I had….?” “If I had only…” I burdened myself with things I wasn’t responsible for and had no control over. Then there was the junk I was responsible for – thoughts that led to hurtful words and actions. Add to this a number of other significant hits – deaths, losses, and tragedies.

I had no idea how to deal with this stuff. So, I tried to take control. I made myself responsible and became a relentless, overachieving robot.

Guilt had succeeded. His voice had become my own. He became the unseen shadow piloting my life.

Perhaps you are well acquainted with him too.

I once had a gerbil named Ralph. He was especially fond of the wheel in his cage. He would get it in and run for seemingly hours at a time. Even in the middle of the night, I could hear that little wheel going round and round.

Ralph was industrious, but he didn’t accomplish much. He wasn’t supposed to. He was a gerbil. He was cute. That was enough.

I wonder how many of us feel caught, trapped in small lives, going round and round but not getting anywhere?

How many of us feel stuck, burdened by the challenges we’re facing?

How many of us have the painful past frequently invade the present, hijacking our emotions?

How many of us regularly settle for something we sense is far less than we were destined for?

I believe our “friend” Guilt has a lot to do with this.

It’s time we saw him for who he is, don’t you think?

 

NEXT TIME:  How do we learn to recognize Guilt, and then deal with him?