You might feel guilt from what happened in your childhood home. An alcoholic or dysfunctional parent caused all sorts of chaos in your family and surviving that may bring up all sorts of emotions and feelings.

Guilt might be one of them.

Maybe you thought you could save or help someone in your family.

Often guilt is tied into seeing those you love suffer, but the responsibility for fixing the problem is not yours to deal with.

If someone is an alcoholic, you are not to blame.

As a kid, I remember thinking back to my family and wanting to do everything I could to protect and save my mother from my father. But as a kid, I could not do so. Yet I tried to do it, anyway.

Guilt is a powerful emotion, but sometimes it’s misplaced and we’re not responsible for other people’s actions.

Alcoholism affects an entire family as does living in a dysfunctional home. All the family members who are affected suffer and struggle with how to deal with the problems permeating the home life.

Some overcompensate, others withdraw and check out.

If you’re carrying guilt over what happened to in your family life, take time to work through those feelings. If your parent (or parents) haven’t come to terms with their drinking, that’s not your fault. Neither is it your fault that a sibling may have been adversely affected by alcoholism or dysfunction.

You can only take care of yourself.

Talk through your feelings of guilt with a therapist or counselor, write them out, and allow yourself the free to come to terms with your feelings.

Give yourself the freedom to work through and let go of the guilt.

Like what you’ve read? Be sure to check out my other posts in my Let Go and Be Free blog.