Guilt will always try to pull you back. There was a time in my life when I felt guilty for wanting time for myself. Guilty for needing space. Guilty for not dissolving entirely into the roles of mother and wife. Being a mum and a wife wasn’t always wonderful for me—not because I didn’t love my family, but because it forced me to grow up, to change, to shed parts of myself so fast that something inside me quietly broke. I forgot me. I became so busy taking care of everyone else that I forgot I, too, was part of that family. It took me years to understand a simple truth: You cannot give what you do not have. Not love. Not joy. Not presence. When I finally came back to myself, I saw guilt for what it really was. It was never mine. It was a state I had accepted—imposed by society, inherited norms, and an idea of “normal” I never consciously chose, yet faithfully lived out. Neville said we are not victims of circumstances, but of the states we occupy. And guilt was just a state—one that kept me loyal to a version of myself I had already outgrown. The moment I withdrew my attention from guilt, it lost its power. The moment I chose myself, the world reorganized to reflect that choice. I found myself again. Different—but still me. Stronger. Wiser. Grounded in my own authority. Empowered. And unpredictable. Because the day I gave up guilt… was the day I reclaimed my state of being.