History

Remember nothing and you will become nothing. Those are words to live by.
Bad things will happen. There will be moments when you want to kick yourself upside the head for things you do or say. That's alright. It's perfectly normal.
But when these things happen, we often are revisited by their shame and pain throughout life. If you let this happen, it will destroy you. You will be left hating yourself, stuck in a broken-down shell of depression. Believe me, this is not a place you ever want to be.
But it doesn't have to be this way.
They say it's hard to forgive. Maybe it's true. But for people like me, at least, it's forgiving myself that is most difficult. But you have to. There really is no other way.
You have to accept the past. To do so, you must understand that what you did was wrong (stupid, cruel, dangerous, destructive, whatever it happens to be). Next, you have to find something-- anything-- good that happened. Hold on to it tight, because sometimes it's all you've got. Now you have to laugh or smile about it. Alright, maybe what happened could have been a lot worse. Maybe it was even a little bit funny. Allow the thought that you can make mistakes, just like everyone else. It doesn't make us imperfect. Rather, admitting that we can all make mistakes, even to ourselves, is what makes us truly perfect.
The next step is perhaps the hardest. It is sef-acceptance. Acknowledge the fact that you must accept the past to move into the future. You cannot go through life with a hate-filled and sorrow-filled heart. Because, really, that is no life at all.
It's okay to think badly of what you've done. It's okay to mess up. But it is not okay to continually torment over what has happened. It's done, it's over with, it's time to move on.
Think of it as a lesson. Learn and use those mistakes and events to understand the present and create a better future. This is the reason we learn about history and events that shook our world. So that we do not repeat those mistakes, so that we find a better way to do things.
Once you've done everything neccessary to heal, there is only one thing left to do. And that is to live. Go through life in full acceptance that you are not perfect and are entitled to make mistakes, just like everyone else. Understand that everyone is allowed to be happy in their own way. And always, always, forgive, for it is the only way to heal the wounds of the mind and soul.