𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐑𝐮𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐰

I used to be an expert at feeling guilt. Not just for the big things, but for everything.

Silly things I said as a kid. Mistakes I made decades ago. Sometimes even with people who aren’t here anymore.

Guilt was my constant companion. For a long time, I thought it made me responsible, caring, good.

But it also made me exhausted. It kept me stuck in cycles of over-apologizing, over-giving, and over-functioning. It whispered, “You should be doing more” or “You shouldn’t have said that.”