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Stop dwelling on your regrets, fix them. Here’s how.
“You’re not living if you’re not regretting.” — Nicola Yoon
As humans, we experience many emotions throughout our lifetime. There are some that I would prefer to go through than others. But without fail, the one that impacts me the most has always been regret. I am not talking about the regrets that can be easily and quickly fixed, I am talking about those that keep you thinking for weeks, months, and even years.
In the 25 years of my existence, I have accumulated quite a good number of regrets. This span all the way from education, career, relationship, parents, etc. Therefore, as an attempt to not carry these with me to the grave, I am taking steps to repair what’s been done and prevent future screw-ups.
Identify what caused your regrets
Many of us want to be forward-looking individuals. But that does not mean we should ignore our past. There is a reason why problem solvers are so obsessed with root cause analysis. Understanding where our regrets originated from is a good place to start.
As I wrote down all the regrets I feel at the moment, I realize they fall into either of these categories:
- I wish I did not do what I did.
- I wish I did something.
- I wish I did something different.
Though everyone experiences this feeling differently, I am positive that you will find ours fitting into these as well. If you are comfortable enough to share, please let me know what your biggest regret is.
Judge your action, not yourself
I like to keep my brain constantly busy. Otherwise, I dwell on the bad choices I made. It is a very bad habit that I am trying to get rid of. And most of the time, I make the mistake of judging myself as a bad person rather than the action itself.
I may have done many things that I am not particularly proud of, but that does not make me a bad person. This took me years to believe. And if you have not, I hope you will soon.
After categorizing your regrets into one of the above, revisit the situation and your action, which caused your…
