Often when I start feeling guilty for putting off a task (even if I genuinely didn’t have time), the guilt makes it harder for me to get back to it. It’s an additional emotion that I have to barge through in order to get started.
What if the person is annoyed with me for still not having replied? What if they’ve followed up with a strongly worded email that I’m now going to have to suffer through? And I’m going to have to come up with an excuse for taking so long. This would have been so much easier if I’d done it yesterday.
The guilt increases exponentially. How do you dispel it so that it’s not in the way of actually getting to the task?
(Alcohol and sleep deprivation does not count)
Acceptance.
Accept that you are imperfect.
Accept that all humans are imperfect.
Give light apologies out of respect if necessary, but know that you did what you could and it’s ok that you failed to do more, so don’t take the failure to heart.
Life is short, and living in anxiety takes away your quality of life like a sickness.
If guilt doesn’t improve your life, then it needs to be cut out.
Your happiness is more important than someone else getting a prompt answer.
Respect yourself.
Also, fuck 'em. You do you.
100% this. I found the book “The Gifts of Imperfection” by Brene Brown to be very helpful with mentally working through this. I still feel guilt occasionally but knowing that I am the way I am and that guilt does not provide a productive resolution to the “problem” typically is enough to pull me through.