Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge, and dares forgive an injury. ~E.H. Chapin
I know a little something about forgiveness. I’ve wronged and been wronged in my life, which I'm sure is the story with pretty much all of us. Some are little everyday things that you can let slide by because they were meaningless nothings, someone just needed to blow off steam.
Some are huge monsters that haunt your mind and won’t let you have quiet. You will punish yourself many times more than the person who wronged you, because you can’t let it go. You’ll rehash it time and time again, just wanting to feel that sting.
I have no idea why we punish ourselves so much, but we do. There must be something in ourselves that likes that sense of righteous indignation we get out of it.
But there comes a time when you have to let go, just for you.
The person who hurt you has moved on. You’re still stuck in a moment, tortured by a beast you kept feeding. I know this part, too.
One of the best feelings in the world is when you finally let it go. When you forgive someone, you aren’t doing it for them. You’re doing it for YOU.
The best revenge you can ever get on anyone else is just to live a good life. Don’t let them break you, don’t let them carve out that time before you fall asleep with fresh torture every night. Let it go and walk away. Concentrate on whatever good thing you have going and just move on.
After a while, look back. If you’ve really been living for yourself, you’ll realize it really doesn’t hurt that much anymore. Over time, you’ll get to just be you again, and whatever you couldn’t forgive is now just something that happened in the past. It’s gone.
My two step program for living a good life:
- Find someone you can truly love and let yourself be happy.
- Let yourself let go of hurt.
It’s really not that hard once you give yourself permission.
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