Leilah wrote:
How can I forgive myself for the damage I've done when I have freaked out so that I can move on to recovery in this area in my life?
Hi Leilah-
I wonder if this is something that can be seen as an issue of balance? Balance between change and acceptance.
There has to be a degree of acceptance - it is what is it, I forgive myself, etc. - to move forward. On the other hand, if we just blindly accept 100% of everything, then we don't learn from the past and we don't have motivation to change.
So I think it's not an either or / all or nothing. We can forgive ourselves - we all make mistakes, we can't move forward unless we stop beating ourselves up - but we can
also look at our mistakes and say wow, I don't think I want to make
that mistake again. Now, I might make the mistake again, and if I do the world won't end, but I don't want to, and I'm motivated to change things for the better.