Still ashamed of being scammed, a year later
I'm writing this at midnight, in tears. The scam happened on my first day in Colombia, having decided on a whim to go travelling after I got laid off. I'm still so ashamed of how obvious it was. How my intuition felt something was off, but I felt cornered. That I didn't run, even if I was afraid.
I lost my phone and a credit card. It made certain things harder, made managing money more difficult until I at least had my replacement card shipped. I had some incredible times over the three months I traveled in the end, and my bank mostly refunded the money lost, but I haven't forgiven myself. I still bargain in my head about how much easier things could've been at points. The stress and tears I could've saved.
I kept it to myself because I knew my family would panic and make me feel wrong for taking the risk to travel in the first place. The one friend I confided in since used it against me during an argument.
I don't know how to move on from it. This happened at the end of February last year. I feel like I tainted a once in a lifetime opportunity from day one. I'm still so angry at myself.