Love Yourself, Accept Yourself, Forgive Yourself. | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Health and Wellness

Love Yourself, Accept Yourself, Forgive Yourself.

Give yourself the gift of forgiveness by acknowledging that you, too, are human.

295
Love Yourself, Accept Yourself, Forgive Yourself.
MariaShriver.com

Forgiveness is one of the most difficult tasks in the world. It takes a great deal of strength to willingly let go of the pain when someone has hurt you for a second chance at something better. You let go of the pain in the hopes that something better will arise from another try. I've spent years trying to forgive others.

I forgive the individuals who tried to put me down in life.

I forgive the people who set me back on purpose with the intent to further their success.

I forgive those who have broken my heart.

Those who have made me cry,

Made me angry.

Left me behind.

I forgive others for the things that have done to me in the hopes of expelling negativity from my life, with the understanding that they are humans and humans make mistakes.

Forgiving others gave me strength and taught me resilience. Forgiving others fostered a sense of compassion and kindness within my soul. Yet no matter how much I forgave the people around me, I was left with an inexplicable feeling of injustice and frustration. I felt confused, angry, lost, and stuck. Then, one day, it hit me. I forgave others for the mistakes they made towards me, but I was unable to comprehend how I let their mistakes impact me.

They hurt me, but I should have been stronger. I should have been more careful, more assertive, less sensitive, less impacted by their actions. I controlled the way that I felt and reacted, so how did I allow other people to have the ability to hurt me? I learned to forgive others all while harboring feelings of guilt and resentment towards myself.

I forgave others, but I never forgave myself for letting them hurt me.

We tell our friends and family to not be so hard on themselves when they face difficult situations, yet struggle with personalizing that advice towards our own situations. Why do we torture ourselves with the notion that we are not deserving of forgiveness?

Forgiving yourself doesn't free you from the consequences of your decisions. Rather than blaming yourself for a situation and falling into a cycle of self-loathing and guilt, you accept your failure and work resourcefully to improve your situation. Everyone fails. Yet we become so blinded by our fear of failure that we forget that success arises from the lessons learned through failure. We must embrace our failures as opportunities for growth and future success.

Accept your reality. Accept yourself. Recognize your current situation and accept who you are in that moment. Self-acceptance is the first and most crucial step of forgiving yourself. Stop blaming yourself. Not everything in life has a reason; not every situation is in your control. Life isn't fair. Sometimes there is no one to blame for a situation; that doesn't mean you should blame yourself.

Liberate yourself from the bonds of blame by understanding that sometimes things aren't O.K. and that itself is okay. Be good to yourself. Value yourself and recognize the worth that you possess. Love yourself--even the broken and damaged pieces of the person you are. The most important thing at the end of the day is how you treat yourself.

I forgave myself. I let go of the mistakes of my past with the recognition that they taught me lessons on how to be a better person today.

I forgive myself for my mistakes.

I forgive myself for the hurt I have caused others.

I forgive myself for letting other people influence the way I felt about myself.

I forgive myself for believing everything was in my control.

I forgive myself for not being perfect.

Forgiveness is the greatest gift I have ever given myself. We all deserve the forgiveness we are so willing to bestow on others. Give yourself the gift of acknowledging that you, too, are human.

We're all successes in progress.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Gilmore Girls
Hypable

In honor of Mother’s Day, I have been thinking of all the things my mom does for my family and me. Although I couldn’t write nearly all of them, here are a few things that moms do for us.

They find that shirt that’s right in front of you, but just you can’t seem to find.

Keep Reading...Show less
Relationships

10 Reasons To Thank Your Best Friend

Take the time to thank that one friend in your life you will never let go of.

6122
Thank You on wooden blocks

1. Thank you for being the one I can always count on to be honest.

A true friend will tell you if the shirt is ugly, or at least ask to borrow it and "accidentally" burn it.

2. Thank you for accepting me for who I am.

A best friend will love you regardless of the stale french fries you left on the floor of your car, or when you had lice in 8th grade and no one wanted to talk to you.

Keep Reading...Show less
sick student
StableDiffusion

Everybody gets sick once in a while, but getting sick while in college is the absolute worst. You're away from home and your mom who can take care of you and all you really want to do is just be in your own bed. You feel like you will have never-ending classwork to catch up on if you miss class, so you end up going sick and then it just takes longer to get better. Being sick in college is really tough and definitely not a fun experience. Here are the 15 stages that everyone ends up going through when they are sick at college.

Keep Reading...Show less
kid
Janko Ferlic
Do as I say, not as I do.

Your eyes widen in horror as you stare at your phone. Beads of sweat begin to saturate your palm as your fingers tremble in fear. The illuminated screen reads, "Missed Call: Mom."

Growing up with strict parents, you learn that a few things go unsaid. Manners are everything. Never talk back. Do as you're told without question. Most importantly, you develop a system and catch on to these quirks that strict parents have so that you can play their game and do what you want.

Keep Reading...Show less
friends
tv.com

"Friends" maybe didn’t have everything right or realistic all the time, but they did have enough episodes to create countless reaction GIFs and enough awesomeness to create, well, the legacy they did. Something else that is timeless, a little rough, but memorable? Living away from the comforts of home. Whether you have an apartment, a dorm, your first house, or some sort of residence that is not the house you grew up in, I’m sure you can relate to most of these!

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments