7 Things You Shouldn’t Feel Guilty For

Guilt is defined as a “feeling of deserving blame, anger, or shame, often evoked when we consciously hurt others with our words, choices, or actions”. Have you ever felt guilty or ashamed about something but didn’t understand why? While it’s certainly important for us to acknowledge when we’ve done something wrong and apologize for it, we sometimes find ourselves feeling guilty about things that we shouldn’t. Excessively feeling guilty and blaming ourselves for everything is an unhealthy attitude to have, and it often leads to feelings of inadequacy, anxiety, and perfectionism. And if you’re not careful, it can worsen into behaviors of overcompensating and overthinking, as well as high levels of stress and chronic emotional distress. So we’ve made this video to help you identify the things you shouldn’t feel guilty for.

If you find this video helpful and want to learn more about how to stop being so hard on yourself, we’ve previously made a video on the signs you may be too hard on yourself: https://youtu.be/seHB34meY-M

Writer: Chloe Avenasa
Script Editor: Morgan Franz
Script Manager: Kelly Soong
VO: Amanda Silvera
Animator: Vanessa Val
YouTube Manager: Cindy Cheong

Mascolo, M. F., & Fischer, K. W. (1995). Developmental transformations in appraisals for pride, shame, and guilt.

Turel, O. (2016). Untangling the complex role of guilt in rational decisions to discontinue the use of a hedonic Information System. European Journal of Information Systems, 25(5), 432-447.

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