First lesson we should learn is to be merciful to ourselves.
Unbeknownest to many of us Catholics, indoctrinated from our tenderest years, is that we carry a heavy load of covered-up depression. The load of guilt-and-fear that we acquire from indoctrination in the Original Sin Bible Story, and the requirement to memorize the Ten Commandments in preparation for First Confession, overload the hyper-sensitivity of childhood consciousness with a lasting trauma. At least that has been my personal experience.
First Communion should precede First Confession!!!
Confession is about politics, to indoctrinate submission of thought  to church hierarchy.
Bad, bad psychology!