Stop the Guilt!

I was in a workshop the other day, and we got on the topic of online courses or courses in general. 

Have you purchased a course before? 

I have. 

Many of them. 

I am actually in the process of creating my own.  

I don’t finish them all.  Some of them I’ve never even started. 

It’s true. 

Are you like me?  Do you have courses you purchased but didn’t finish?  

That was what we talked bout in this workshop.  Actually, it was a very sidebar conversation in the workshop.  But it inspired this blog. 

Do you have guilt over those courses? 

I do. 

I have guilt over the ones I didn’t start. 

Guilt over the ones I didn’t finish. 

Guilt over the ones I spent money on but didn’t get value out of. 

Guilt. 

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As I sat there in that workshop thinking about the guilt, I realized that the guilt was not serving me. 

I realized I had to let the guilt go.

I would start to let that guilt go by asking myself the question: “what did I get out of the course.” 

Sometimes, I got something from the course before I even finished it.  Just recognizing that I did gain value was enough to close the book on some of the courses.  

Others, I put in a parking lot.  These were ones I still wanted to do or finish.  I could schedule time for them in my weekly personal development time slots.   

The last few, I just had to decide to let it go.  For whatever reason, I was never going to do the course or finish the course.  That course was taking up space and energy in my head.  It was an open-loop – an uncompleted something.

It was time to close the loop.  Remove the drain on my mind and energy.  Let go of the guilt.  I simply had to decide and let it go.  

We’ve all done it. We’ve all purchased courses, books, crafts,, and things that sit unfinished, unused, or even unopened.  I bought clothes then never wore them because I didn’t like how they fit or looked. 

Regardless of what that item is for you, let the guilt go.  Figure out what you need to learn or get from the purchase or plan for its use.   Regardless of how you let it go, let it go. 

What are you going to let go of consciously?  

The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.

Steve Maraboli