Regret is an ugly word. It pulls at you. It wants to push you in the deep end and drown you. Don’t allow it. The only thing that is truly regrettable is regret itself. How much time do you spend regretting a decision you’ve made or didn’t make?
I don’t always make the right decisions, but I refuse to allow those bad decisions to live on any longer than they need to by allowing myself to regret my choices.
This is much easier than it sounds. However, you must first understand where you are in life, what you want from it, and where you’re headed. From there, get it into your head that every single choice you make is the best possible decision you could have made with the information you had at the time. Decisions made, as long as all the information you had at the time coincides with your goals (that is they help you achieve them), don’t deserve the attention regret would give them IF they turn out to be the wrong ones.
Instead of focusing on the pain that regret causes, focus on the lesson it teaches. Take the good from the situation. Learn the importance of keeping the wheat and discarding the chaff. Sometimes it takes a little to get through the hard outer shell that each lesson is wrapped in, but once you do, distill the lessons learned down to its essence and absorb it. This will ensure that you don’t make the same mistake twice. Everything else? Throw to the side; you don’t need to bring it with you.
Regret is like a tapeworm that feeds on your confidence; it will only get bigger and fatter while you spend your time looking back and feeling inadequate about the choices you’ve made. Regret takes too much attention and will prevent you from noticing the opportunities you’d be more aware of if you weren’t so focused on the rearview. Pay attention to the road ahead; you’ll miss your exit if all you ever do is question the last turn you made.
What regrets are weighing on you? What lessons can you learn from them? How can you apply those lessons going forward? Once you answer those questions, forget the rest. You have a life to live.