Tips for Living

Tip Seven

(author's note: Hi everyone! Long time no see! I apologize once again for not writing. I had kind of haven up my book for a while and actually just deleted the app. But this morning I decided to download Wattpad again and I saw that someone had commented on pretty much every tip. So shoutout to @ravikaur for making me smile and motivating me to write another tip.😄)

Tip #7: Forgive yourself

We all have hurt someone we loved tremendously, whether by intent or accident. It is an intrinsic human trait that makes us imperfect people. But, learning to forgive ourselves and others because we have not chosen wisely is what makes us most human. We all make horrible mistakes. It's how we learn, and it is inevitable.

It's ok to make mistakes. It's ok if you hurt others or yourself. But what is not ok is to hold on to that pain and never let it go. Now, dig deep into your brain. Pick at your memories until you find a time where you hurt someone you loved and maybe even hurt yourself. Remember the pain you caused and felt. Really scrutinize every detail about it. Now, take a deep breath. In and out, in and out. Tell yourself everything will be ok. Remind yourself that it wasn't your fault and that it's ok to make mistakes. Forgive yourself and continue living. If you live in the past, you will forget about the future which matters the most. You are young. You are free. And you have so much to live for.

Now, here are some more "in-depth" suggestions on how to forgive yourself.

1. Accept your emotions
We, as humans, are often unable to accept that we are experiencing such emotions as anger, fear, resentment, and vulnerability. Instead of trying to avoid facing these negative emotions, accept them as part of what is fueling your lack of self-forgiveness. A problem named is a problem ready to be tackled.

2. Stop punishing yourself
It's hard to except, but you can't change the past. You can't go back and manipulate things to the way you wanted them to happen because then life would be meaningless and boring if you could. But you can change the future, and that's the beautiful thing about life. Yes, you will make mistakes, and yes, you will have bad days-but as long as you let the past go, you'll have such a bright future ahead of you knowing that things were meant to happen and knowing each day that you will learn something so that you keep growing to be a better person.

3. Practice self-acceptance
Self-acceptance is an individual's satisfaction or happiness with themselves. You don't need forgiveness for being you. Forgiving yourself is about targeting the specific things that you feel bad about, not about the person you are. So don't beat yourself up about every tiny thing you've done wrong because you can't change the past. The only thing that is within your human ability is to accept who you are and what you've done no matter what. You deserve to be happy, and you especially deserve to love yourself.

4. Put things into perspective
Once a day, just think of all the kind and loving things you've done today alone: making someone smile by telling them how pretty their hair is or making a child laugh when you stick out your tongue at them. Think about all those things for a very long time. Eventually you will see that all the good things you do makes you an amazing person no matter what you have done in the past. Let your greatness out do your temporary moments of weakness.

You are perfect in every way. Even if you said some mean things to your brother, or you hurt someone you loved, you are still beyond compare. You are all infinitely wonderful in ways people can't understand. Just forgive yourself. Stop holding yourself against things that happened in the past. The longer you live in the past, the less future you have to enjoy.❤️

(author's note: I hope you guys enjoyed, and I apologize again for the wait and short tips. Next, I will be writing an introvert's guide for coming out of your shell for all my fellow introverted people out there. And one last thing, happy birthday to my best friend Ryan! Thank you so much for inspiring me and trying to get me to write more. I appreciate and love you so much for everything you do!💓 Thank you all so much for reading!)