You don’t have to be wise and all-knowing all the time. You don’t have to take on the injustices of the entire world, just because you, in your clearest moments, can see them, and know deep within your heart what is needed to make the world a better place.
It’s not on you. It’s not your responsibility. Let yourself off the hook. 
And know this: It’s a work to be done together, by us all. We all play a part in creating the world, moment by moment, and when one person falters, someone else will pick up the slack, making sure the chain isn’t broken.
We’re in this together, and no individual is responsible for it all. That’s not what being gentle to oneself means. Being gentle means seeing my part as part of the whole, and knowing that as humans, we do stumble, falter, make mistakes and royally screw up, once in a while. Don’t beat yourself up over that. If you didn’t screw up once in a while – why would you still be here, on earth, having a human experience? You wouldn’t, in my view. Being human means just that. We screw up. Sometimes big, sometimes small. What matters is what we do afterwards. Take responsibility for your mistakes, and learn from them. Maybe you’ll avoid that mistake in the future, maybe you can help someone else who’s in the same mess you were before. Use it. Wisely.
Together we can cover for each other.
First published on my blog on April 17th, 2016: https://helenaroth.com/doing-gentle-14-let-yourself-off-the-hook/
Audio production: Caspian Almerud
Photography: Anders Roos http://www.andersroos.nu/
Soundtrack: Olof Jennfors Ljudtjänst http://jennforsljud.se/