Lately, I have said this way too often: “This is late. Thanks for understanding. I have been so busy.” I hate that statement. We are all busy and we are all consumed with stuff that takes way more time than usual, or what used to be our normal. It is so frustrating — but worse than frustrating, we get behind and then we feel guilty.

My life coaching skills have been out on high gear lately as we are dealing with more and more of these guilty feelings. The sad thing is this guilt can create stress and anxiety and lead to significant health issues over time.

I am here to tell you it’s time to nip that guilt in the bud today. Learning to manage guilt starts with identifying the root cause. We are all in the food industry, so we understand root cause analysis, but have you ever done it on yourself? What a great way to use your job skills on your personal growth!

Once you identify your feelings as guilt, here are some mechanisms to move beyond the guilt:

Eliminate that self-talk. This negativity does you no good. Often, we talk to ourselves in a way we would never dream of speaking to others. We are harder on ourselves than on others. This negative self-talk will only take you deeper into anxiety and will make you sink further into the quicksand of guilt. The lifeline rope is to spin that negative talk into something positive about yourself. This takes some brain training but once you start, it's easy to turn that around.

Is there a reason to feel guilty? Remind yourself of everything you have done and are doing. Here is an important concept for all of us: It is OK to have needs and it is OK to meet those critical needs. This is not a selfish action; this is called self-care. For those that travel a lot, the flight attendants always reminds us to put our own mask on first before helping others. We are no good to anyone if we cannot help ourselves first.

Establish healthy boundaries by making your needs and wants clear to others around you, whether at work or at home. Make your expectations clear. Sometimes you must have those meetings to establish boundaries both at the office and at home. They may not be easy, but they are healthy.

Lastly, understand what you can and cannot control. If you feel responsible for something, was it really your responsibility in the first place? Think about that question before allowing yourself to feel the guilt.

Perfect doesn’t exist and we are all just human. We are not super-human, and if we try to be then the anxiety and stress from guilt will start to creep itself into our lives. It is easy to start sinking into the quicksand. Be kind to others, but mostly be kind to ourselves first.

Managing guilt

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