{"id":14247,"date":"2013-06-23T08:30:28","date_gmt":"2013-06-23T16:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=14247"},"modified":"2013-06-23T08:30:28","modified_gmt":"2013-06-23T16:30:28","slug":"why-you-shouldnt-beat-yourself-up-over-something-from-the-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-you-shouldnt-beat-yourself-up-over-something-from-the-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Shouldn\u2019t Beat Yourself Up Over Something from the Past"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be the first person to admit that I\u2019ve done things in the past I\u2019m not proud of.\u00a0 I think most people can say that.\u00a0 Even if you always try to be a good person, you can end up doing something bad once in a while.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it\u2019s hard to look back on those past actions and rationalize them away.\u00a0 They can stick in your mind and make you feel bad.<\/p>\n

But you can\u2019t beat yourself up over them.\u00a0 Sometimes you just have to accept the things you\u2019ve done and move on.\u00a0 Just because you did some bad things in the past doesn\u2019t make you a bad person.<\/p>\n

Beating Yourself Up Over the Past<\/strong><\/p>\n

We all have something in the past we wish we could change.\u00a0 Decisions were made and at some point you did something you otherwise wouldn\u2019t have done.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you treated someone terribly.<\/p>\n

Maybe you stole something from someone.<\/p>\n

Or you just said something to someone that hurt them.<\/p>\n

Whatever it is, you wish you could go back in time to do it all over again.\u00a0 But of course that\u2019s impossible.\u00a0 Things that happened in the past are there forever and you have to live with your choices.<\/p>\n

Some people have a hard time letting go.\u00a0 They beat themselves up for those decisions and keep saying how they should have known better.<\/p>\n

Yet that\u2019s destructive thinking.\u00a0 You can\u2019t keep reminding yourself how bad you are for something that happened a long time ago.\u00a0 All you\u2019ll do is descend into the darker areas of self-loathing.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to move on.\u00a0 It\u2019s time to start telling yourself that doing something bad doesn\u2019t necessarily make you a bad person.<\/p>\n

If something from the past is eating you up inside, you have to realize three things:<\/p>\n

1. Everyone has done something bad at one point<\/strong><\/p>\n

No one is perfect.\u00a0 Making mistakes is part of the human experience.\u00a0 So that means you\u2019ll eventually do something you\u2019ll regret.<\/p>\n

But mistakes don\u2019t make you a bad person and you shouldn\u2019t criticize yourself too harshly for it.<\/p>\n

Instead of feeling bad and focusing too much on yourself, you should look to what others have done.\u00a0 Everyone is dealing with something from the past just like you.<\/p>\n

Once you realize that everyone has something in the past they wish they could change too, it makes you feel normal.\u00a0 You realize it\u2019s a part of life.\u00a0 You can\u2019t be too hard on yourself when it\u2019s something everyone experiences.<\/p>\n

2. You\u2019re not the same person as you were back then<\/strong><\/p>\n

Looking back on the something bad from the past with regret means you\u2019ve changed as a person.\u00a0 It means you wouldn\u2019t do the same thing again.\u00a0 You\u2019ve grown.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s something you should feel good about.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s those people who\u2019ve done bad things in the past and feel no remorse at all that should feel bad.\u00a0 Not you.<\/p>\n

Regret is a sign that at some point, you\u2019ve learned a lesson.\u00a0 It\u2019s a sign that you\u2019ve worked on yourself as a person and turned into a better person.\u00a0 If faced with the same decision now, things would be different.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t be mad at yourself for a decision you made in the past.\u00a0 After all, the person who did it isn\u2019t the same person you are today.<\/p>\n

3. You\u2019ve learned from your choices<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mistakes are great learning opportunities.\u00a0 That goes for the really bad ones too.<\/p>\n

Instead of looking back on something and feel bad about it, you should see it as a great learning opportunity.\u00a0 If you learned something, some good did come out of it.<\/p>\n

Many bad choices help shape the person you are today.\u00a0 Learning from them can influence your personality and development.\u00a0 That\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n

Even if you don\u2019t think you learned something from your decision, you still can.\u00a0 It\u2019s never too late to learn from a mistake.\u00a0 Instead of feeling bad about it, think of it as an opportunity to reflect and learn.<\/p>\n

Getting Good From Bad<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s not much you can do to prevent doing bad things.\u00a0 No one comes out of life without making a terrible mistake or two.<\/p>\n

What you can do is control how you see your events from the past.\u00a0 You can feel bad about them or learn and move on.\u00a0 Since you can\u2019t change the past, you\u2019re not doing yourself or anyone else any good by feeling bad now.<\/p>\n

Steve is the writer behind Do Something Cool<\/a> where he blogs about travel, motivation, self-improvement and adventure.\u00a0 He\u2019s always looking for ways to make life more interesting.\u00a0 Get tips on living life to the fullest by following him on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ll be the first person to admit that I\u2019ve done things in the past I\u2019m not proud of. I think most people can say that. Even if you always try to be a good person, you can end up doing something bad once in a while.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it\u2019s hard to look back on those past actions and rationalize them away. They can stick in your mind and make you feel bad. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12163,"featured_media":14522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2162],"tags":[4653,4651,207,4629],"yoast_head":"\nWhy You Shouldn\u2019t Beat Yourself Up Over Something from the Past - Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sometimes it\u2019s hard to look back on those past actions and rationalize them away. 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