What If Your Biggest Mistake Was Never a Mistake at All?

Motivated by guilt? More like, manipulated by it.

You’ve been programmed to respond to guilt from an early age. You learned to speak respectfully to elders not through understanding, but by being told you were wrong for raising your voice. You fixated on productivity, not out of passion, but because you were made to feel guilty for "wasting time."

Then came the guilt of not doing your homework, not scoring high enough, not excelling in sports. Soon, guilt seeped into friendships—you felt bad for not conforming. After breakups, you were told it was your fault. At work, your boss, colleagues, and even subordinates made you feel guilty for not doing enough. Social media shamed you for not caring "enough" about every cause. Every word spoken, every opinion shared, felt like a potential mistake waiting to be dissected.

Somewhere along the way, you internalized it. Maybe you really are at fault. Maybe you are unworthy, incompetent, lazy, aggressive, fragile—every label thrown at you. But pause. Is it true? Or have you just heard it so many times that you started believing it?

Practical Takeaway:

You cannot grow if you let guilt define you. Growth doesn’t happen through shame; it happens through self-awareness and choice. A seed doesn’t become a tree because it feels guilty for not being one—it grows because that’s its nature.

So ask yourself—are you making mistakes, or are you simply growing in a way that makes others uncomfortable? The real mistake was never what you did. The real mistake was believing them.