Question

How can I forgive myself for hitting my girlfriend? Can she forgive me?

Community Answer

An important part about moving on and forgiving yourself is learning about what you did wrong. Your question is related to the theme of respect. For example, certain religions go by "the golden rule." The golden rule (TGR) is the idea that you should treat others how you would like to be treated. TGR is a good start at coming up with a lucid view about what respect is. One of the things you should do is think about what does it mean to treat others how you like to be treated in concrete terms and go from there. Get anger management or therapy too, to treat your need for control and violence as a means of relating, as it's clearly unhealthy. Finally, she may not forgive you and that's her prerogative; you have, after all, harmed her. Do what you can to repair things but respect her decision.