Guilting shamelessly

Health lesson of the moment: Stop putting up with unreasonable guilt.

This lesson applies to any of you who, like me, can be guilted over the tiniest or most irrational issue. The degree of guilt that I heap upon myself when confronted with a situation or circumstance that I think I could have either handled more appropriately or have potentially solved is absurd.

This morning, for instance, I was feeling lazy and unmotivated to cycle in to work. This led to a degree of internal conflict that had me change into my cycling clothes, take them off, put on my normal work clothes, and then stare at the cycling clothes while sipping my coffee and whinging about how I really should cycle in. After all, I get two good 25 minute cardio workouts from cycling and it is far better for the environment than driving. I kicked myself upstairs into the kitchen, kicked myself during breakfast, kicked myself as I sat in my car and watched cyclists zoom by, and am still kicking myself as I write this. I did cycle in to work once this week, was prevented from doing so two days in a row because of some after-work commitments that I had to drive to, and will cycle in tomorrow. I usually cycle in three or four days out of the week. I'm not as hardcore a cycle commuter as some may be or as I may wish to be, but realistically, I'm not doing so bad. Once the snow flies and cycling in isn't an option, I'll be doing my environmental bit by taking the bus every day. Realistically, I shouldn't be guilting myself into a tizzy every time I choose not to cycle in.

I know that many of you out there are of a similar guilting bend as I. A few of my friends could rival me in going on totally unreasonable guilt trips (sometimes for things that had nothing to do with us!). While I've got no scientific basis to back this up, I think that the habit of constantly accepting feelings of guilt is particularly harmful because it becomes habitual, and can carry on for days. It is a considerable source of stress, and as we all know stress is neither healthy for our minds or bodies.

The following article cites findings that the stress induced by guilt weakens our immune systems. It also mentions that guilt can be useful for modifying unwanted behaviour, but we're not talking about normal, reasonable, or positive levels of guilt. BBC: Guilt 'bad for your health'

The next article by medical writer Elaine Moore deals with feelings of guilt in relation to the presence of autoimmune disease. Now while the immediate relevance to individuals with autoimmune disease is obvious, there are some excellent statements contained therein that are much more broadly applicable: Guilt in Autoimmune Disease: Healthy VS Unhealthy Guilt

Moore's remark that guilt "can precipitate feelings of depression or prevent you from expecting and even demanding the best health care possible or treating yourself kindly" rings particularly true for me and for many guilters I know. We guilters are very, very hard on ourselves. We tend to not allow ourselves to make the same sorts of mistakes that we would considerable acceptable or even negligable in others. If someone misses a workout because they are sick, we would encourage them to take the time necessary to get better before pushing their bodies too hard. If we get sick, however, we will either attempt to struggle through a workout (and only make ourselves sicker) or languish on the couch with our blanket and box of tissues, berating ourselves for not mustering up the fortitude to get in our scheduled physical activity.

Ultimately, attempting to not burden yourself with feelings of guilt boil down to be able to reason the guilt away (much easier said than done), and learning how to deal with the stress that the guilt induces. Personally, I like beating up stuff in computer games and then going for a good solid strength training session. There's nothing like surging adreneline to put me in a good mood!