Something I’ve noticed is how often people make themselves feel bad:
- I’m behind on my work, so I feel bad
- I haven’t been doing the habits I want to build, so I feel bad
- I’m not as productive, or disciplined, or focused as I want, so I feel bad
- I’ve been eating out too much, eating too many sweets, watching too much social media, watching too much TV, so I feel bad
- I haven’t been reading as much as I’d like, or meditating, or exercising as much as I should, so I feel bad
- Someone is unhappy with me, or I accidentally hurt someone’s feelings, so I feel bad
- My life isn’t like I hoped it would be, or as I expect it should be, so I feel bad
- Other people get to do these fun things, or have certain kind of bodies, so I feel bad
Whew! That’s a lot of feeling bad. Every day, for much of the day.
What if we had permission to not feel bad, in these scenarios? What are we afraid we’d lose, if we stopped making ourselves feel bad? What could life be like, absent all of this feeling bad?
I wonder if you could give yourself permission to not feel bad. Would you like to try?
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Previously published on zenhabits
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