According to Brene Brown, a brilliant social worker and shame-researcher, “shame is the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing we are flawed and therefore unworthy of acceptance or belonging.” It can be crippling and cause us to feel self-loathing, loneliness, and despair. When we’re stuck in shame, we generally don’t feel motivated to make changes, but instead, focus on our many short-comings.
Guilt Gone Wrong
Do you spend hours worrying that you said or did the wrong thing and may have hurt someone’s feelings? Do you obsess over mistakes you made? Do you take responsibility for things outside of your control and feel guilty that you couldn’t do more? Do you agonize over saying no to someone and/or continually agree to do things you don’t want to?
If any of these questions ring true, you might be someone who struggles with excessive guilt.