How to Live With Guilt From Damaging Your Body

The reason we can feel guilty is because we have a conscience. Anxiety Care.org advises that guilt can be healthy because it keeps us accountable to society. Unhealthy guilt, however, is when we set unattainable standards and fail to reach them. This type of guilt can lead to low-self esteem, anxiety and depression. There are many ways to damage your body, both intentionally and unintentionally. Activities such as eating too much food or drinking too much alcohol can lead to bodily damage. So can things such as anorexia, "cutting" or taking drugs. No matter how you damaged your body there are ways to learn to live with the aftereffects.

Instructions

• 1

  Accept responsibility. Be honest and have a long talk with yourself in front of a full-length mirror so that you can see the damage you did to your body. Admitting that what you did was wrong is the first step is helping to ease the guilt that you are living with.

• 2

  Assess the type of guilt you are experiencing. If it is healthy guilt that pricks your conscience and keeps you from damaging your body again, it isn't necessarily bad, so you can live with it. If, however, it is keeping you awake and making you totally miserable, it is time for action.

• 3

  Get professional help if you can't deal with living with the guilt. If the problem is overwhelming, ask your doctor to refer you to a counselor or an organization that can help you. If, for instance, you damaged your body from anorexia or drugs, there are support groups that can help you live with your guilt.

• 4

  Pick a "I will feel comfortable living with my guilt day" and mark it on the calendar. The idea behind this is to track your guilt. Every day decide how guilty you feel on a scale of 1 to 10. Notice the pattern that time has of easing the guilt and making it more bearable to live with.

• 5

  Realize that perfection doesn't exist. Dr. John Grohol, founder of Psych Central, advises that the key to coping with guilt is to admit that we are human and that everyone makes mistakes from time to time. The point it to learn from the mistake and move on.

• 6

  Re-frame the experience of damaging your body and view it as a "learning experience". This mental process happens after you have moved on and are capable of assessing how and why you damaged your body. It may take a while for you to reach this stage of living with minimal guilt, but it indicates a mature understanding of the situation.