Is Guilt a Social Construct? (#041)

Sean and James think so! This week, they talked a lot about guilt and how to potentially live a more guilt-free life.

Key Takeaways:

• It is not a natural instinct to feel guilty.
• Guilt is all internal. Nobody can make you feel guilty.
• A lot of guilt is also learning to be self-forgiving.

Episode Quotes:

James on going through life's ups and downs

"You'll have good weeks. You'll have bad weeks. But it's not what you do on the good weeks, but it's more what you do on the bad weeks. How you stick with your process, stick with the same kind of good habits that you're setting, and trying to set yourself up for success. And it's not always gonna look like a straight growing linear line. It's always gonna be curvy with the ups and downs, and you just gotta get through the downs just as much you gotta get through the ups."

Sean on how priorities create a lot of unnecessary guilt

"We've turned everything into a priority. I think that also creates a lot of unnecessary guilt because, you know, I'd feel like, “I should have done this. I should have done that. I need to do this. I need to do that.” It's like, no, you don't. What do you actually need to do? Priority should be a singular word, right? It's like, what is your priority? What are you actually responsible for? And are you getting that done versus feeling you are responsible for every stupid thing? And that's where I'm saying like 99% of the guilt that I feel are the responsibilities I feel like I have. What are my real responsibilities?"