Guilt Beware: How to Keep Moving Forward Without Looking Back

Watch Out – Those Guilty Feelings Will Try To Sneak Back Into Your Life

Dealing with Guilty feelings is not always easy.  Last week’s blog post was all about taking baby steps and making progress. The secret to reaching any goal is to just keep taking those baby steps and adjusting your course as needed. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, there’s always something that will throw a wrench into your plans, potentially halting your progress. Today I want to share one of those with you. It’s something you should watch out for and be prepared for. If you know it’s coming, it’s much easier to prevent it from stopping your progress.

I’m talking about guilt.

We’ve looked at the guilt that’s holding you back throughout this series of blog posts. Not only does it prevent you from starting to go after your dreams in the first place, it also keeps trying to sneak back into your life. You’ll notice those little negative thoughts popping back in your head after the first excitement of making progress and going for it dies down. That’s when you have to be prepared so these feelings of guilt or self-doubt don’t derail you.

I’ve mentioned how helpful a journal can be when it comes to self-reflection. It’s also a great tool to help you spot guilty feelings popping back up. If you get yourself to journal regularly about your feelings and your progress, you have something to look back on. You have a record of what you’re doing and how you’re feeling. You can then look through your daily entries and find those instances of guilt quickly.

Preventing Guilt

As we’ve discussed before, it’s easier to get over the guilt and in this case prevent it from taking hold when we know what it is and that it’s coming. When you know what you’re feeling bad about, you can find arguments and proof against it. Reminding yourself of the positive impact the changes you’re making will have on your life also helps you stay the course.

For example, that piece of cake may be tempting you and you may feel guilty about not eating the confection that your aunt so lovingly prepared. Or you may feel guilty about letting perfectly good food go to waste. By reminding yourself that your health will be much better and that you’re able to run around the park with the kids, you can quickly overcome these feelings of guilt. The same holds true if you’re feeling guilty for not going out to lunch with your friends at work, or not buying your kid the latest pair of designer sneakers because you’re being financially responsible. Do you see how this works?

Additionally, you have something to show you the progress you’ve been making and the positive changes you’re already experiencing. That can be a great confidence booster, which will be important as you continue your journey well past the end of this challenge. In fact, it’s something we’ll take a closer look at in tomorrow’s blog post. Stay tuned.