What do you feel guilty for?

I’ve hurt people in my past and not been able to forgive myself. This was years ago. I figure the punishment for things you’ve done wrong is the everlasting guilt you have to live with. Apologies cannot make the unforgivable things right.

I feel guilty for not getting over guilt earlier in life.

I grew up Italian-Catholic. What don’t I feel guilty for?

Not working every waking hour when I don’t absolutely need to, and trying to enjoy what remains of my youth, since I had to pretend to be a different person and live in the future through the great majority of it.

My wife asked me to go out drinking with her. I said I didn’t want to. She came home three weeks later in an urn.

There is a lot of guilt there and it’s probably not hard to figure out why.

Not an f***ing thing.

Family stuff, and I’ll leave it at that.

I am not prone to neurotic guilt at all. However…for the first time in as long as I can remember I am feeling guilty for having to euthanize my beloved pet goose, “Marwyn” who is 15 years old, due to losing my home of 7 years on a 5 acre property. I have done all I can to find him a quality home but have had no luck and I will not compromise his quality of life for the quantity of a few more years. I am reminding myself to not project my emotions onto him.
He will not know what happens and his emotional well being is tantamount to living in inferior conditions from what he has been accustomed to all these years.

One of the hardest life challenges we face, doing the right thing for our animals even when it hurts like hell. :-(

I’m feeling someone guilty for considering not being part of a new teen center in town. I had been thinking this would be a great opportunity to make some new friends, get slightly out of my comfort zone, and build relationships… But now I’m told that the kids who will be hanging out in there will be a bad crowd and that I shouldn’t associate with them. I trust the family who’s telling me this, but I still feel like it’ll be a good opportunity… Either way, I’ll be burning some bridges (Bridges I have yet to cross or have already crossed) and losing some opportunities. The funny thing about life is that you have to make decisions and live with them for years to come.

Finally, and after a lot of work, nothing.

I realized a long time ago that people try to manipulate you with guilt, as does some religion, and I refuse to accept it. Now if I notice someone trying to guilt trip me, it is a red flag to examine the situation more closely.

@KNOWITALL Absolutely! Nothing worse than manipulative guilt trippers. Ugh!

@Coloma Like every single woman in my life, seriously. Wore me out. :)

Not being able to be as good a mother as I should have when my sons were little. Now I am.

I feel guilty for a lifetime of bad decisions.

@mrentropy I can relate. One fine summer morning, my husband got up at 4 in the morning to go to work. I heard him getting some coffee and the thought crossed my mind that I would like to get up and have a cup with him, but then decided to sleep another few hours since I didn’t have to go to work until later. Two hours later he was dead – cardiac arrest.

What do I feel guilty for?

I feel guilty because when my 80 year old, housebound mother with dementia who can no longer care for herself asks me what she has to live for I have no answer.

@rojo That is so sad.

Never feeling the way that I should about the right people.

I want to respond to everyone individually. There were many happy answers, several heartwrenching ones, and some bemused like me.

I hope to get back to everyone later. Thanks much for the input.

Anything and everything. It’s my natural inclination to take the blame for things I have nothing to do with, even. It’s not something that was instilled in me, I don’t think, it just seems to be the way I’m made. I’ve even apologized more than once for apologizing too much, haha! The better news is that at least I am aware of my proclivity toward guilt, and I don’t take it nearly so much to heart as I used to when I was younger.

@mrentropy and @Skaggfacemutt I’m sorry you carry that load, and hope it eases for you eventually. None of us can predict the future. {hugs}

{virtual hugs to everyone}

There are many things I feel guilty over. Logically, I know much of those things were not my fault/responsibility. I’m working on it.

One of my most recent experiences where I am left feeling guilty is when my dog, Gus, passed at the end of June 2012. I wish we had taken him in, to be euthanized a 3–5 days earlier than we did. It was the hardest decision of my life. What made it even harder was that he wasn’t in pain/discomfort…he was merely existing at that point – so it was harder to let him go (because he seemed content). Looking back at the photos I’d taken of him in those last couple weeks, it is amazing how very frail and weak he looked. For us, we saw it happen slowly..over a month. The difference didn’t stand out as much (from before he was sick and at the end). So, looking back at it now…I can see how very sick he was. I’m sure he must have felt ill. So I feel bad for prolonging that, even if it was only for a few days. It was just so hard to let him go. I know it’s not something I did terribly wrong… but it’s still a guilty pang I feel once in a while. I basically cuddled him for that last week… constantly. I think it really helped him feel at ease with what, I’m sure he knew, was coming.

Guilty for feeling guilt about things I should feel absolute no guilt for.

I have done so much for so many people, but sometimes my mom’s ‘awww poor thing’ attitude about everyone rubs off on me… and voila… I become a pathetic doormat again when I bloody knew I should have stuck to my guns!

Nothing. I have done nothing wrong.