It’s hard to forgive ourselves, especially if we’ve hurt someone we love deeply or feel we were the cause behind a painful situation or outcome. But withholding forgiveness only makes things worse and harms our emotional, physical, and mental health.

According to therapists, we will experience these five wonderful benefits when we forgive ourselves.

1. Improved physical well-being
2. Less Depression
3. Healthier Relationships
4. Deeper Compassion
5. Allow ourselves to unlock our best life.

Improved Physical Well-Being

When you withhold forgiveness from yourself, you stress your mind and body. Depriving yourself of self-forgiveness creates stress that damages your physical well-being.

When you forgive yourself, you will enhance your sleep quality, lessen pain, and improve cardiac function.

Going without forgiveness interferes with your sleep because of feelings of guilt, anger, and worry. It’s hard for your mind and body to relax and feel calm when your mind is preoccupied with negative emotions, which, among many things, disrupts your sleep.

Stress affects the body because of the mind-body relationship. It can cause illness, muscular discomfort, and headaches. Forgiving yourself relieves the body, easing pain and reducing illness.

Stress also interferes with the functioning of the heart. It raises blood pressure and damages the circulatory system in your body. When you forgive yourself, you decrease stress and protect your heart.

Self-Forgiveness Decreases Depression

Guilt, anger, and worry can lead to depression. As you might imagine, not forgiving yourself for your mistakes can make you question your self-worth, trigger low self-esteem, and cause depression. Depression affects your entire well-being because of the negative outlook it fosters. You’re tempted to feel you’re undeserving of happiness and success, which limits your opportunities for growth, peace, and love.

Forgive yourself so you can start moving beyond the debilitating effects of negative emotions.

Self-forgiveness, giving yourself a fresh start, improves your outlook. A positive mindset decreases the potential for depression.

Healthier Relationships

It’s hard to give people our best when we feel sad or angry, hurting or depressed. Sometimes we lash out and say or do things we don’t mean. Not forgiving ourselves and keeping our negative feelings all bottled up inside makes it harder to get along with others because of the negative energy we carry around with us.

Hurtful behavior hurts relationships. People might start disliking you because of your attitude and how you treat them. Not forgiving yourself creates negative attitudes and behavior, driving family and friends away.

Forgiveness paves the path for moving forward with your life. Forgiving yourself helps you forgive others, which improves your relationships, especially when they see you accepting responsibility for your wrongs.

Greater Compassion

We become more compassionate when we forgive ourselves because we have a deeper understanding of situations and understand how and why people do some of the things they do; we become more understanding and merciful. We tend to be more forgiving and accept people’s apologies because we know how it feels to be in their shoes.

It’s rare when people seek to hurt someone on purpose. But although the mistakes might be unintentional, the consequences are real. However, forgiving yourself for your mistakes makes you more merciful and compassionate towards others.

A part of forgiving yourself is making restitution and correcting your mistake, which isn’t always easy and can feel very uncomfortable. Understanding how difficult it is to make amends tends to develop greater compassion for others who take responsibility for their mistakes and work to right their wrongs.

Unlocking Your Best Life

Withholding forgiveness from yourself limits your success and effectiveness. Obstacles seem harder to overcome and challenges insurmountable. Forgiving yourself frees you from what’s holding you back. A world of possibilities is unlocked, and you can begin to rise to your potential.

If the pain you’ve been carrying within has created a life of misery and suffering, it’s time to forgive yourself so you can start living again. You deserve a life of love, happiness, and peace. Sometimes the fresh start you’re longing for begins with forgiving yourself.